Burial at the Sky

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sky_burial -- and a blog actually...with slightly graphic pictures: http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/blog-7890.html

So meandering through the internet sometime back -- for novel worth burial information -- I found a form of 'burial' ritual used by Tibetan monks, termed "sky burial." Effectively this is the leaving a dead body on the crown of a hill or mountain, sometimes with the body cut open to expose organs, so that scavangers and birds of prey can eat the remains. The place is called a "charnel ground."

I find this extreamly interesting in that while it has religious significance -- or rather it fits into the religion -- it is also simply a method of pragmatism. In terms of the faith -- Buddhism -- the teachings are those of rebirth and so the preservation of the dead is not applicable. In this way, due to rocky ground and limited resources for cremation, it is much easier to give the body to the animals. The body itself is simply going to decompose either by nature or animal, so why not give it to them?

The archaeology of this is a little more difficult. Because the remains are actually being consumed, for the most part, it would be incredibly difficult to find any lasting remains. In the pictures of the blog the monk returns to crush the bones -- including the skull -- and mixes it with flour, sugar, and butter. However, it would be foolish to assume that just because one tourist took pictures all sky burials are done in such manner.

So, were one to study this practice I think that first one would have to find multiple charnel grounds, near towns -- old or new -- and monasteries on hilltops or mountains, the people themselves would be the best source of information. I think there would be two options, too look for human remains and to study the droppings of animals on the site. In the pictures the site was practically aswarm with vultures, it wouldn't be unlikely that there would be remains of droppings. I don't remember the term for it, but if there is enough evidence of the human in the droppings than it would suggest that the site was used in such a manner, this in conjunction with the people and hopefully with actualy skeletal remains (probably small things like finger bones or teeth) we could determine a sky burial site from such findings. I think more research and work would have to be invested but I don't think it's that far outside of the realm of the plausible.