Old World
In countries where ground suitable for burial was scarce, corpses would be interred for approximately five years following death, thereby allowing decomposition to occur. After this, the remains would be exhumed and moved to an ossuary or charnel house, thereby allowing the original burial place to be re-used. In modern times, the use of charnel houses is a characteristic of cultures living in rocky or arid places, such as the Cyclades archipelago and other Greek islands in the Aegean Sea.
Read more about this topic: Charnel House
Famous quotes containing the word world:
“... the spiritual world is here and now and indisputably and preeminently real. It is the material world that is the realm of shadows.”
—Amelia E. Barr, U.S. novelist. All the Days of My Life, ch. 1 (1913)
“Ancient woods of my blood, dash down to the nut of the seas
If I take to burn or return this world which is each man’s work.”
—Dylan Thomas (1914–1953)