Editing Excarnation (section)

== Methodology ==

=== Identification of excarnation ===
From the pattern of marks on some human bones at prehistoric sites, researchers have inferred that members of the community removed the flesh from the bones as part of its burial practices.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Barber |first=Paul |title=Vampires, Burial and Death: Folklore and Reality |publisher=Yale University Press |year=1989 |isbn=0-300-04859-9 |location=New York |pages=171–172}}</ref><ref name="curation" />

Since [[metatarsals]], finger bones and toe bones are very small, they would easily fall through gaps in a woven structure or roll off the side during this removal. Thus a site where only small bones are found is suggestive of ritual excarnation.

=== Distinguishing excarnation from cannibalism ===
Archaeologists seeking to study the practice of ritual excarnation in the archeological record must differentiate between the removal of flesh as a burial practice, and as a precursor to [[Human cannibalism|cannibalism]].<ref name=":0b">{{Cite book |last1=Scott |first1=G. Richard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7wnjBAAAQBAJ&q=%22An+Archaeology+of+Desperation |title=An Archaeology of Desperation: Exploring the Donner Party's Alder Creek Camp |last2=McMurry |first2=Sean |date=2014 |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |isbn=978-0-8061-8552-1 |language=en |chapter=The Delicate Question: Cannibalism in Prehistoric and Historic Times}}</ref> When human bones exhibiting signs of flesh removal are discovered in the fossil record, a variety of criteria can be used to distinguish between the two. One common approach is to compare the tool marks and other cuts on the bones with butchered animal bones from the same site, with the assumption that cannibalized humans would have been prepared like any other meat, whereas excarnated bodies would be prepared differently. Cannibalized bones, in contrast to excarnated bones, may also exhibit telltale signs such as human tooth marks, broken long bones (to facilitate marrow extraction), and signs of cooking, such as "pot polishing".<ref name=":0b" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Beyond Stone and Bone » Criteria for Cannibalism |url=http://archive.archaeology.org/blog/criteria-for-cannibalism/ |access-date=2018-06-06 |website=archive.archaeology.org |publisher=Archaeology Magazine |language=en-US}}</ref> Pot polishing refers to the smoothing and beveling that is observed in bones that have come into contact with the abrasive inner surface of a cooking vessel.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Cannibalism: living things that eat the flesh of their own kind |url=http://plaza.ufl.edu/ash1ey/anasazi.html |access-date=2023-09-26 |publisher= University of Florida}}</ref>