Towers of silence

A Tower of Silence (other names and spellings: Dakhma, Dokhma or Dakhme-ye Zartoshtiyun) is a raised structure usually on a hilltop used by people of Zoroastrian faith for the disposal of their dead. The purpose of the tower is that the bodies of the dead can be placed on them so that vultures and other birds will consume them and as a consequence the bodies will not pollute the earth, a sacred element in Zoroastrian faith. The two towers are located at the outskirts of Yazd, southwest of the city centre. They have not been used since the 1960s.