#dokhma

This is a ruin of what is called a Dakhma, or a Tower of Silence. The ancient Zoroastrians used these flat-roofed structures as their method of disposing of their dead. Bodies were placed on the top of the roofs, and were dealt with through a combination of being picked clean by the various birds of prey that inhabited central and southern Asia, as well as exposure to the intense sunlight of the region.