You expolre the depths of the ancient ruins, and find an ancient crypt door, behind which lays the ancient king, servant of the god-kings over men, the Dragon Priest, with his servants and ancient treasures. On your way you obtain the unique key, guarded by the Draugr - the Dragon Claw, that is made from the solid material - to be able to open the crypt. But ancient crypt door has three rings with three sacred animal glyphs, and you need to find the proper combination to open the sacred crypt of the ancient king.

"Dragon Priests were once the loyal servants of the ancient dragons of Skyrim. They ruled over countless armies of men in their gods' names. Dragons were revered more than any other, and they were comfortable in assuming positions as god-kings over men. Their servants, the dragon priests, kept the peace between dragons and men, and their power was so great that uttering any word for "dragon" was forbidden to all mankind except them. They made laws for the society of men, and were on par with kings." 

Amongst the Draugr by Bernadette Bantien, College of Winterhold. Discoveries about the draugr and their link to the dragon cults.
 "When the Priest died, his followers were made undead and buried with him. The followers would rise from their resting places in shifts to worship at the sarcophagus of the Priest, transferring their life force to him, and to defend their barrow against unwanted intruders. They would then return to their graves and regenerate their life force while sleeping. It's speculated that these undead followers would have been indistinguishable from the living when the barrows were new." 

The Priest is surrounded by his servants, who will defend their master's crypt, the crypt of the highest rank servant of the Ancient Dragons, the king, with their lifes. It's implied, that crypt and what's inside must not be investigated by anyone.

In cryptography, encryption is the process of encoding messages or information in such a way that only authorized parties can read it.
Dragon claws are not the cryptography, but the core with encrypted door is identical.
The purpose of encryption is to ensure that only somebody who is authorized to access data (e.g. a text message or a file), will be able to read it, using the decryption key. Somebody who is not authorized can be excluded, because he or she does not have the required key, without which it is impossible to read the encrypted information.
Claw is the decryption key.
Three animal sigils on three rings, that you must match, is the encrypted information.
Without the decryption key you can not decrypt the information (open the crypt).
When you match the proper combination of the encrypted information, decryption key shows this, and you decrypt the information.
This combination is nowhere in game, only in des-encryptor's head, when des-encryptor find the answer. You must find the combinations. Like in good old games. 3^3 variants, and only your Luck.

No hints for the sake of casual game-play by Bethesda. When playing with ELaFX - Hardcore, or other Darker Dungeon mod, this is truly feels like you in the true Ancient Crypt full of undead, that must not be investigated for those, who alive, and to go further from this door you must find the answer. I recommend ELaFX - Hardcore. And, some good audio mod.
Claws look awesome without the hints, fully made from one material.

This mod is a mesh replacer. You need original mod for textures. This is convenient, because, you can choose any version (1K;2K;4K;) you like, and than download this mod for "no hints" feature.

1. Install JS Dragon Claws;
2. Install this mod and re-write the files. (you can name it "JS Dragon Claws" and "Merge" for the sake of lesser mod order list, if you use MO; or place it below the original in your list.).

johnskyrim for the great mod and permission to use and change his meshes.