Though a charnel ground may have demarcated locations within it functionally identified as burial grounds, cemeteries and crematoria it is distinct from these as well as from crypts or burial vaults. Specifically, a charnel ground is an aboveground site for the putrefaction of bodies, generally human, where formerly living tissue is left to decompose uncovered. This unsanitary practice is now known to foster disease and generally runs counter to an orderly and well-governed nation-state.