The body's framework
When a human body reaches the end of its life, the flesh soon rots away. Left behind is a set of stiff, pale objects which provided an inner framework, supporting and protecting the softer tissues around them the framework is the skeleton, made up of 206 bones. Early people must have wondered at these, and why they persist so long after death. Indeed, these people used animal and human bones as symbols of power and victory, for carvings, and as tools and ornaments. Because of their toughness and durability, bones could be studied in detail and they regularly found their way into medical textbooks. The great Galen of Ancient Rome wrote Bones for Beginners 1,800 years ago, and introduced some of the technical terms still in use today from the times of Ancient Rome until the Renaissance, physicians were generally forbidden by religion or tradition from looking inside human corpses. However, after a few weeks of vultures and maggots, the bones were exposed, and study could proceed.