[post_page_title]A flag of death – and easy-to-store burial[/post_page_title]
The well-known Jolly Roger flag, with a black background and a skull and crossbones in white, has a simple origin. The image originates from the ossuary, a small sarcophagus to preserve human remains, even across the sea. To save as much room as possible, the femurs, the longest bones in the body, were put in a cross with the thick and round skull placed on top of the other remains. Anyone who opened an ossuary, sailors especially, saw this image and associated it with death.
