The process of leaving a body to decay fully before its burial. The corpse would literally be left to the elements, often on a specially constructed platform, until all the soft tissue had been removed. This ritual was observed in the Neolithic period with the bones being later transferred to a communal tomb such as a long barrow.

In archaeology and anthropology the term excarnation refers to the burial practice adopted by some societies of removing the flesh of the dead, leaving only the bones.