14 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 191 



BURIAL PRACTICES 



The widespread surface derangement made it impossible to define 

 a precise plan of either the concentration or configuration of burials. 

 The entire west end of the site literally was paved with sherds from 

 undecorated urns which had been crushed by the earth-moving 

 machinery. From this extensive litter of bone and urn fragments it 

 could be seen that the western sector was primarily a burial area 

 containing a slight admixture of living debris. The eastern sector 

 was a dwelling site containing only sporadic burials. The distribu- 

 tion did not change gradually, but rather there appeared to be a 

 sharp demarcation between cemetery and residence areas. Test 

 pits established the size of the cemetery to be about 100 X 200 yards. 

 Distribution of fragments further suggested a maximum of 100 burials 

 in the concentrated area; probably considerably fewer. There well 

 may be many more isolated burials in the peripheral area and outside 

 the clearing, but this would appear to be a rather smaU cemetery in 

 comparison with the usual Panama site. 



Burials were of two major types: open burial in a simple trench 

 or interment in urns. 



Within this cemetery, burials were mainly those of the urn type. 

 Only six open burials were identified with any degree of certainty. 

 The large number of intact utility ware vessels 2-4 feet under the 

 present surface of this area, would seem to indicate the sites of other 

 open burials lacking skeletal remains because of climatic conditions. 



Almost aU the urns were located at approximately the same level 

 but, by random shallow trenching between the smashed urns, several 

 were found undisturbed in situ. Some of these were almost exposed 

 after the rains and were only a few inches under the present surface. 

 In each case they were within 3 feet of the new surface, representing 

 the deepest "average depth" of these urns and thus escaping the 

 grading operations. All, however, were badly pressure broken and 

 squashed to less than haK of their original height. The condition of 

 many fragments with rounded smooth breaks suggested breakage by 

 earth pressure long before the present clearing operations. 



Surface or subsurface grave indications in the form of soil markings 

 usually were absent. Red clay pockets were discovered in the area; 

 in one case surrounding a plain urn, in another, surrounding an open 

 burial. Five others were investigated and found to disappear after 

 1-2 feet; these may have been open burials without offerings in which 

 the skeletal fragments had disappeared completely. Soil underneath 

 the red clay pockets was trenched down to the coquina, as were several 

 test pits. No deeper burials, such as those of Venado Beach (Lothrop, 

 1954) were found. 



