"Decapitated" redirects here. For the band, see Decapitated (band).

Decapitation

The Beheading of Saint Paul. Painting by Enrique Simonet in 1887, Malaga

Cathedral

Beheadings in an illumination from Froissart's Chronicles from the beginning of the 15th century – the execution of Guillaume Sans and his secretary

in Bordeaux on the orders of Thomas Felton

Depiction of an Ethiopian Emperor executing people, 18th century

Decapitation, also known as beheading, is the total separation of the head from the body. Such an injury is invariably fatal to
humans and most other animals, since it deprives the brain of oxygenated blood, while all other organs are deprived of
the involuntary functions that are needed for the body to function.
The term beheading refers to the act of deliberately decapitating a person, either as a means of murder or as an execution; it may
be accomplished with an axe, a sword, a knife, a machete or by mechanical means such as a guillotine or chainsaw.
An executioner who carries out executions by beheading is sometimes called a headsman.[1] Accidental decapitation can be the
result of an explosion,[2] a car or industrial accident,[note 1] improperly administered execution by hanging or other violent
injury. Suicide by decapitation is rare but not unknown. [3] The national laws of Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Qatar permit beheading;
however, in practice, Saudi Arabia is the only country that continues to behead its offenders regularly as a punishment for crime. [4]
Less commonly, decapitation can also refer to the removal of the head from a body that is already dead. This might be done to take
the head as a trophy, for public display, to make the deceased more difficult to identify, for cryonics, or for other, more esoteric
reasons.[5][6]