In archaeology and anthropology the term excarnation refers to the burial practice adopted by some societies of removing the flesh of the dead, leaving only the bones. Archaeology or archæology or sometimes in American English archeology (from the Greek words αρχαίος = ancient and λόγος = word/speech) is the study of human cultures through the recovery, documentation and analysis of cultural and environmental data, including architecture, artefacts, biofacts, human remains, and landscapes. ... Anthropology (from the Greek word άνθρωπος = human) consists of the study of humankind (see genus Homo). ...

Excarnation may be precipitated through natural means, involving leaving a body exposed for animals to scavenge, or it may be purposefully undertaken by butchering the corpse by hand.

Examples of the former include the Tibetan sky burial and Comanche platform burials. Similarly, the lack of known burials in the European Iron Age and the small fragments of bone found around their settlement sites has been explained by some archaeologists as an indicator of widespread excarnation involving leaving bodies on platforms for the birds to eat. Tibetan sky burial is a form of burial practiced in Tibet. ... The Comanche Nation is a Native American group of approximately 10,000 members, about half of whom live in Oklahoma and the remainder concentrated in Texas, California, and New Mexico. ... Iron Age Axe found on Gotland This article is about the archaeological period known as the Iron Age, for the mythological Iron Age see Iron Age (mythology). ...

Some Native American groups in the southeastern portion of North America practiced deliberate excarnation in Protohistoric times. Also, marks on some human bones imply that some prehistoric societies cut the flesh off the bones themselves. Native Americans (also Indians, Aboriginal Peoples, American Indians, First Nations, Alaskan Natives, Amerindians, or Indigenous Peoples of America) are the indigenous inhabitants of The Americas prior to the European colonization, and their modern descendants. ... World map showing location of North America A satellite composite image of North America North America is the third largest continent in area and in population after Eurasia and Africa. ...

In the middle ages, excarnation was practiced by European cultures as a way of preserving the bones when the deceased was of high status, or had died some distance from home. One notable example of a person who underwent excarnation following death was Christopher Columbus. No authentic contemporary portrait of Columbus has been found; this late 19th-century engraving is one of many conjectural images For information about the director, see the article on Chris Columbus. ...

In Japan, where cremation is predominant, it is common for close relatives of the deceased to remove the bones from the ashes, transferring them to a special jar in which they will be buried. See Japanese funeral. The crematorium at Haycombe Cemetery, Bath, England. ... A graveyard in Tokyo A Japanese funeral includes a wake, the cremation of the deceased, a burial in a family grave, and a periodic memorial service. ...

Following the excarnation process, many societies retrieved the bones for more orthodox burial.