Final answer:
The man's skeleton was completely stripped of flesh, indicating a violent death and subsequent scavenging by animals or natural decomposition. Historical texts and literature depict such scenes to evoke the harsh realities of death, often in the context of crime or war.
Step-by-step explanation:
The condition of the man's skeleton found in the water, with every bit of flesh stripped from his bones, suggests that he suffered a violent death and was subject to post-mortem removal of flesh through natural processes like scavenging birds or aquatic creatures. This is depicted in historical accounts, such as Galen's description of a bandit's corpse being left unburied for birds to consume the flesh, and the vivid literature portraying bodies in wartime suffering posthumous degradation. The descriptions evoke images of death and decay that are not uncommon in battlefields or cases of executed criminals left as a warning to others.
In forensic terms, this denotes a process known as skeletonization, where all soft tissues are removed, leaving behind only the bony framework. Skeletonization can occur in various contexts, and the presence of flesh-eating creatures like birds or fish often accelerate it. Historical accounts often use the stark imagery of clean skeletons to underline the brutality of death and the consequences of violence or neglect.