Bones Bones represent the final source of life, both human and animal. The soul is presumed to reside in the bones and hence its resurrection from them. Bone represents the very source of life. To reduce a living being to a skeleton is equivalent to re-entering the womb of life, to complete renewal, a rebirth. The bones of the slain Buffalo and its flesh, rise again with renewed flesh and quickened with life, and become fat and fit for the succeeding Peoples. Thus, the rebirth is expressed through the Buffalo Skull and the concept skull of the Sacred Animal.