Decayed cadavers can also be used to depict death; in medieval Europe, they were often featured in artistic depictions of the danse macabre, or in cadaver tombs which depicted the living and decomposed body of the person entombed.
Less blunt symbols of death frequently allude to the passage of time and the fragility of life, and can be described as memento mori;[REF] that is, an artistic or symbolic reminder of the inevitability of death.