Mos Teutonicus
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Mos Teutonicus or less commonly Mos Gallicus was a postmortem funerary custom used in Europe in the Middle Ages as a means of transporting, and solemnly disposing of, the bodies of high-status individ
Skull of Louis IX in Saint-Laurent-du-Var, France
Excarnation
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In archaeology and anthropology, the term excarnation refers to the practice of removing the flesh and organs of the dead before burial. Excarnation may be achieved through natural means, such as leav
Mos Teutonicus
…individuals. Nobles would often undergo Mos Teutonicus if their burial plots were located far away from their place of death. The process involved the removal of the flesh from the body, so that the bones of the deceased could be transported hygienically from distant lands back home. During the Middle Ages, nobles sometimes died far…
Zoroastrian Towers of Silence are examples of excarnation.
A Tibetan sky burial
1886 photograph by John William Lindt in British New Guinea, depicting a "platform for dead bodies"
Tree burial of a Sioux chief