Burial Practices

 

Source: pinterest.com

What are the different practices of burial?

Primary burials are the first part of the bundle burial ritual. This image shows that this burial may be a primary burial because the bodies were left exposed, so the soft flesh would decay and possibly be prepared for a second burial. This process is also called excarnation.

Source: bonesdontlie.wordpress.com

A secondary burial describes the final resting place of remains. This would either indicate burying the remains as a burial mount, ossuary, or even cremation. This image is considered a secondary burial because of the placement and arrangement of the bones in the ground.

Source: nps.gov

Mounds like those in this image can be identified as burial mounds because of the unnatural form of the earth in what usually would be relatively flat earth. Burial mounds were used to cover the remains of individuals and then covered with rock, shell, or mud to form a mound.

Source: virginiaplaces.org

Source: nps.gov

The first image is of a charnel house where the remains of many individuals were placed in pole and mat structures before their secondary burial. They remain until their soft flesh tissue decays.


Ossuaries are a secondary burial for the remains of multiple people. An ossuary can also be a container or room in which bones are placed. This image is a drawing of an Indian Neck Ossuary site in Cape Cod, Massachusetts.





Bibliography

Emery, Kate M.


2012 Prehistoric Secondary Burial in Argentina. Electronic document,


https://bonesdontlie.wordpress.com/2012/03/13/1331/, accessed July 23, 2020.




McManamon, Francis P.


2017 The Indian Neck Ossuary Site - Wellfleet.


https://www.nps.gov/caco/learn/historyculture/the-indian-neck-ossuary-site-wellfleet.htm, accessed July 23, 2020.





Native American Burial Sites in Virginia


2017 Virginia Places.


http://www.virginiaplaces.org/population/natamergraveyards.html, accessed July 23, 2020.





Pinterest


Electronic document,


https://www.pinterest.com/pin/150729918750160069/?nic_v1=1abUZXqX7%2F%2B3%2F5DLONWrMR7iL4W4eaLJlj%2BYD1edZcuAEHed9cFRrBIH80VVHVjJq4, accessed July 23, 2020.





U.S. Department of the Interior World Heritage Proposal


2018 Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks. Electronic document,


https://www.nps.gov/hocu/learn/historyculture/hopewell-ceremonial-earthworks.htm, accessed July 23, 2020.