1877.] Aboriginal Funereal Customs in the United States. 197 
ABORIGINAL FUNEREAL CUSTOMS IN THE UNITED 
STATES. 
BY EDWIN A. BARBER. 
ee for the dead, evinced by ceremonies, rites, or sol- 
emn decorations, has been universal in all ages and all coun- 
tries. Much information can be gleaned, as to the practices of 
prehistoric man, from the construction of graves! and the relics 
obtained therefrom. The paleolithic and neolithic stone tools, 
and the later copper and bronze instruments, remain intact for 
centuries ; but iron rusts and rapidly crumbles away, while wood 
decays, and all other remains of the iron age vanish in a few 
years, often before the particles of the human frame-work have 
become disintegrated. More, therefore, can be learned relative 
to the modes of sepulture of the ancients than the methods of 
burial of much more recent tribes, and we are frequently com- 
pelled to draw conclusions in regard to the customs employed by 
the Indians of a century or so ago from the usages of their an- 
cestry, since it is a well-established fact that these are handed 
‘down from generation to generation, with but few, if any, im- 
provements or modifications. Comparatively little is known of 
the funereal rites of our modern savages, when we consider the 
great number of tribes; a fact explained by their distant removal 
from the centre of civilization, the secrecy of their ceremonies, 
and the superstition of the savage mind in regard to death. 
Strangers are seldom permitted to witness the disposition of In- 
dian bodies, and nearly all such information has been obtained 
from subsequent grave-desecration. So far as our present knowl- 
edge extends, as regards aboriginal burial in the United States, 
there were four methods, namely : — 
I. By inhumation (subterrene). 
II. By cremation (subterrene). 
II. By embalmment (subterenne). 
IV. By aerial sepulture (superterrene). — 
The first was the one usually employed. 
Bodies were interred either in ordinary graves, in mounds, or 
m caves. The ancient Pueblos of the Pacific slope generally 
Practiced grave-burial. The corpse was placed three or four 
feet beneath the surface of the earth, and at its head were ar- 
ranged food vases, ornaments, and implements of the chase. The 
* The word graves in this paper is used in its broadest acceptation, including all 
places of deposit for dead bodies. 
