criminalwisdom:

TOWERS OF SILENCE: ZOROASTRIAN ARCHITECTURES FOR THE RITUAL OF DEATH

A Tower of Silence, or Dakhmeh, is a structure laying on the top of a hill, consisting of concentric slabs surrounding a central pit. The bodies were arranged onto four concentric rings: men, outermost, than women and children. Despite the fact the the birds of prey needed less than an hour to leave nothing but bones, the remains of the dead were left bleaching on the upper circles no less than a year before the nasellars could come and push the skeletons onto the underlying ossuary pit. Running through sand and coal filters, the disintegrated bones were eventually washed away in the sea.

(Source: J. Yuenger)

this is good

(via neurosciences)