B USHNELL— ABORIGINAL BURIAL 



raised, the Mole thereof being worked very smooth and even, some- 

 times higher or lower, according to the dignity of the Person whose 

 Monument it is. On the Top there is an Umbrella, made Ridge-Ways, 

 like the roof of an House; this is supported by nine Stakes or small 

 Posts, the grave being about 6 to 8 foot in Length, and Four Foot in 

 Breadth; about it is hung Gourds, Feathers, and other suchlike Tro- 

 phies, placed there by the dead man's relations, in Respect to him 

 in the Grave." 1 The narrative then describes the manner of prepar- 

 ing the body for burial. How, after being left for a few days, it was 

 embalmed "with a small root beaten to powder, which looks as red 

 as Vermillion; the same is mixed with Bear's Oil to beautify the hair." 

 Later it was covered with the bark of the pine or cypress "to prevent 

 any rain to fall upon it." 



The Santee, to whom the preceding notes refer, was the most 

 southerly of the Siouan tribes. Others of this stock extended north- 

 ward in the piedmont area as far as the Potomac, and included the 

 Monacan confederacy in the present state of Virginia. Here the 

 eastern boundary of the Siouan territory extended approximately to 

 a line connecting the falls of the Appomatox, James, Rappahannock, 

 and Potomac. Eastward to the coast were the Powhatan tribes. 

 Within the ancient territories of the Monacan have been discovered 

 various mounds containing large quantities of human remains, bear- 

 ing evidence of a communal form of burial practised by these tribes. 

 The best known of these mounds formerly stood near the right bank 

 of the Rivanna, in Albemarle county, Virginia, a short distance north 

 of the University of Virginia. This was carefully examined by Jeffer- 

 son a short time before the Revolution, and was later described in 

 his Notes on the State of Virginia. Originally it was about forty feet 

 in diameter and twelve feet in height, "and round the base was an 

 excavation of five feet depth and width, from whence the earth had 

 been taken of which the hillock was formed." It contained several 

 strata of bones, placed without order or any attempt at regularity, 

 and between the deposits of human remains were masses of earth 

 which had evidently been removed from the surrounding ditch, as 

 suggested by Jefferson. Each stratum of bones maybe considered as 

 representing one communal burial, all placed there at one time. After 

 each ceremony, which undoubtedly attended the burials, earth was 

 strewn over the bones and thus the mound attained a height of 

 twelve feet or more. Although all traces of this tomb have long since 

 disappeared, the site is even now designated as "The Indian Grave". 



1 Lawson, John, The History of Carolina, London, 1714 (reprint, Charlotte, N.C., 1903), pp. 

 9-10. 



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