In the middle of the tower is a pit known as Ostudan (Persian: استودان) where the remaining bones are placed after they are stripped of the flesh.

[2][3] According to a tradition dating back over 3,000 years, dead bodies were left on top of those open towers – which are also called dakhmas -- to be slowly disengaged or picked apart by desert vultures.

Under ancient Zoroastrian beliefs about the purity of the Earth, dead bodies were not buried but left in these uncovered stone towers so that vultures could pick the bones clean.

Narratives say that men’s corpses were placed in the outer circle, while women’s were left in the middle, and children in the inner-most ring.

[3] This practice, however, has been banned in Iran since 1966–1967, and subsequently no bodies have been placed in this tower of silence.