An Introduction to the mortuary customs of the North American IndiansYarrow, H. C. (Harry Crécy)
History
An Introduction to the mortuary customs of the North American Indians
Yarrow, H. C. (Harry Crécy)
Indians of North America -- Funeral customs and rites
Mr. Henry Gillman [Footnote: Amer. Natural, November, 1878, p. 753]
has published an interesting account of the exploration of a mound
near Waldo, Fla., in which he found abundant evidence that cremation
had existed among the former Indian population. It is as follows:
"In opening a burial-mound at Cade's Pond, a small body of water
situated about two miles northeastward of Santa Fe Lake, Florida, the
writer found two instances of cremation, in each of which the skull of
the subject, which was unconsumed, was used as the depository of his
ashes. The mound contained besides a large number of human burials,
the bones being much decayed. With them were deposited a great number
of vessels of pottery, many of which are painted in brilliant colors,
chiefly red, yellow, and brown, and some of them ornamented with
indented patterns, displaying not a little skill in the ceramic art,
though they are reduced to fragments. The first of the skulls referred
to was exhumed at a depth of 2 1/2 feet. It rested on its apex (base
uppermost), and was filled with fragments of half incinerated human
bones, mingled with dark-colored dust, and the sand which invariably
sifts into crania under such circumstances. Immediately beneath the
skull lay the greater part of a human tibia, presenting the peculiar
compression known as a platycnemism to the degree of affording a
latitudinal index of .512; while beneath and surrounding it lay the
fragments of a large number of human bones, probably constituting an
entire individual. In the second instance of this peculiar mode in
cremation, the cranium was discovered on nearly the opposite side of
the mound, at a depth of 2 feet, and, like the former, resting on its
apex. It was filled with a black mass--the residuum of burnt human
bones mingled with sand. At three feet to the eastward lay the shaft
of a flattened tibia, which presents the longitudinal index of .527.
Both the skulls were free from all action of fire, and though
subsequently crumbling to pieces on their removal, the writer had
opportunity to observe their strong resemblance to the small
orthocephalic crania which he had exhumed from mounds in Michigan. The
same resemblance was perceptible in the other crania belonging to this
mound. The small, narrow, retreating frontal, prominent parietal
protuberances, rather protuberant occipital, which was not in the
least compressed, the well-defined supraciliary ridges, and the
superior border of the orbits, presenting a quadrilateral outline,
were also particularly noticed. The lower facial bones, including the
maxillaries, were wanting. On consulting such works as are accessible
to him, the writer finds no mention of any similar relics having been
discovered in mounds in Florida or elsewhere. For further particulars
reference may be had to a paper on the subject read before the Saint
Louis meeting of the American Association, August, 1878."
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