Open Casket - beyond the impression - the height and the need to invoke a sense of deep time

I used a long car journey to reflect on how I want to present open casket... Right now I think two main things need to be considered - the height off the floor, and whether to put anything on/in the impression.

I think I want to raise it off the floor so the fabric can hang down a bit, but I'm not sure how to do this - I don't think suspending it gives the right impression (too bed like, too focused on weight or otherwise, hangings too distracting (unless they were part of the work in a later incarnation e.g. hundreds of threads holding the sheet), so I guess I'm left with legs of some sort... But what height - somewhere between ankle height and waist height, I guess, but I think the height will significant affect how it looks. On the ground is going to invoke graves and gravestones, but knee-height might invoke tombs. I think I want more of a archaeological aesthetic, so I might need to look at some examples for inspiration... But it suggests to me that it will be higher than I planned, and that the supporting structure will be part of the piece.

The other thing I realised is that I really want to invoke the sense of deep time. I think I explained this badly to JK, but I don't want to invoke the body, or even immediate mortality, I really want the sense of the permanence of death. I think I need to reflect more to fully articulate this, but like my roman dog footprint analogy, I want the sense that the body has been 'removed from the equation' completely.

I think I can incorporate an element of time/deep time, by placing something into the impression. Thankfully, I can test that out without damaging the piece. 

Some initial ideas are:

• Dead leafs - I was really pleased with this idea because of the sense of decay, the sense of accumulation over time, the sense of the passing seasons, and the sense of cycles of nature - we are like dead leafs, blowing under the feet of the next generation... BUT I am a bit worried it might be read as a grave that is in a leafy graveyard... I might need to try it and see what it looks like
• Sweet chestnut husks - these are a bit of a recurring motif for me, and I just adore the spikes! They speak to nature, seasons, but also pain and self-protection. I worry the shear weirdness of the little spiky fuckers might be distracting though... I'd also need a lot of them... They could also inadvertently be read as something sea urchins or give some sort of 'underwater' feel
• Pebbles - these give a sense of counting, and I could play games with the number, e.g. one for every year of the average life-span. They are cold, hard, unchanging, but also natural and ancient. I could even play games with making their presence somehow participatory (although I'm loath to reopen that can of worms)
• Something else... I'm also attracted to water (symbolic drowning is another common motif) but I think it would have to be real water to work and I can't see that being practical... Soil or dust could also work, but might evoke burial and/or the land

Clearly something to noodle on, but I'm glad I've recognised that this feels like a missing element, even if I end up not including it!