MEMOIRS OF Till-] NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



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iii ;i supine position was buried close to the wall; the lower limbs, elevated at right angles to the 

 trunk, were placed in a niche in the wall which, was then filled up with mud. 



Among those buried under the floors, many were children, and these were found always buried 

 near the kitchen hearths. This is a custom which is found to have prevailed in other parts of the 

 world and is variously accounted Cor. Mr. Cushing's explanation derived from Zuui folklore and 

 belief is this: "The matriarchal grandmother or matron of the household deities is the fire. It is 

 considered the guardian as it is also, being used for cooking, the principal 'source of life' of the 

 family. The little children, being considered unable to care for themselves, were placed, literally, 

 under the protection of the family fire that their soul-life might be nourished, sustained, and 

 increased." 



Via. 4. Pyral cemetery, unearthed. 



Within both the underground and wall sepulchers were found deposited various household 

 utensils, articles of personal adornment and others of a sacerdotal character. In the mural burials 

 of the temples the articles of sacerdotal use were particularly numerous and elaborate. This is 

 one of the many reasons Mr. Cushing has for believing that those buried without cremation were 

 of a sacerdotal and higher class of the community, while those who were cremated were of a lower 

 class, and laymen. The pottery buried with the adults in the graves, was left whole and not 

 broken or " killed" in the manner to be described when speaking of burials after cremation; that 

 buried in graves with children was, however usually "killed" or broken. The sacred parapher- 

 nalia referred to were so similar to those used in Zuui to-day that Mr. Cushing " was often able, 

 through the knowledge of the Zuiii priesthoods to identify the medicine or priestly rank of the 

 silent occupant of a sepulcher." 



The great majority of the dead were cremated. Each communal dwelling had in close prox- 

 imity to it, its own pyral mound and, situated at the base of the latter, a collection of earthen 

 vessels containing the remains of the dead a pyral cemetery (Fig. 4). The mounds consisted of 

 ashes, cinders, and fragments of charred and broken mortuary sacrifices; they were from GO to 

 LOO feet in diameter, from 3 to 9 feet high and showed evidence of having had from 2 to G locations 

 for pyres in each. That each pyral mound was appropriate to its neighboring communal house 



