Bowers] HIDATSA SOCIAL AND CEREMONIAL ORGANIZATION 331 



Hidatsa-proper and Awaxawi gave the rites to Woman Above as 

 much emphasis as did the other village group, the Awatixa. The 

 Holy Women, however, are mentioned in both Hidatsa creation 

 myths and seem to represent very old rites which had a wide distri- 

 bution within the Mandan-Hidatsa groups. The Woman Above myth 

 is considered to be a segment of the Sacred Arrow myth thought to 

 be connected with the older Awatixa agricultural group on the 

 Missouri. 



At this point it is noteworthy to observe that the Woman Above 

 rites were associated with certain beliefs and practices relating to the 

 human body after death and that there seems to be a relationship 

 between the development of Woman Above rites and the disposal of 

 the dead. There are numerous references in the literature dealing 

 with the Mandan concerning "skull circles," mounds, and posts with 

 offerings which informants readily recognized as part of the beliefs and 

 rites performed to Woman Above. She and the other gods above were 

 believed to consume,^ the flesh of those placed on scaffolds, after which 

 the skuUs were placed near one of these Woman Above or Sun shrines 

 as a fasting ground for those seeldng supernatural powers. 



These beliefs seem to have been deeply rooted in Mandan culture. 

 Primary earth burials, except in or adjacent to the lodge, have been 

 exceedingly rare at all of the long-occupied Mandan villages. Instead, 

 we commonly find secondary bundle burials of adults without the skull 

 in all of their Heart River villages which indicate that the body had 

 been exposed to the air, probably until the flesh had all decayed, when 

 the skulls were taken to these skull shrines. The other bones were 

 wrapped in hide and buried in a shallow grave adjacent to the vfllage 

 or within the refuse accumulation of the village itself; apparently 

 without ceremony. Of the two large Hidatsa groups, the Hidatsa- 

 proper and the Awatixa, it is worth noting that the latter group, whose 

 villages on the south bank of the Knife River show occupation for two 

 centuries or more, have scarcely a grave adjacent to the village, a 

 situation such as is encountered at the old Mandan villages. The 

 Hidatsa-proper, whose village ruins indicate a much shorter period of 

 occupation, have a large and extensive burial area extending for more 

 than a half mile to the west. 



Further evidence that cultural differences existed in native beliefs 

 concerning cannibalism by Woman Above is indicated by the fact that 

 both the Mandan and Awatixa had several sacred bundles containing 

 human skuUs, whereas none have been reported or are known of for the 

 other two Hidatsa villages. The high development of Awatixa 

 beliefs and practices concerning the Woman Above rites, although 

 never as highly formalized as with the Mandan, indicates that native 

 traditions of separate migrations of Hidatsa groups to the Missouri 



