coastal Algonkian Indians from 

 Carteret to Currituck were common and 

 were influenced by cultural tradition. 

 The Iroquoian ossuaries were usually 

 smaller than those of Algonkians, with 

 two to 10 or 12 people per grave, and 

 included artifacts. Comparisons with 

 the coastal Siouan ossuaries are 

 tentative because few have been 

 excavated; but again, they appear to 

 share similarities in the inclusion of 

 artifacts and number of people buried. 



Only about 29 ossuaries, ranging 

 from two to 150 people in each, have 

 been excavated in all of coastal North 

 Carolina. The mass graves appeared in 

 the region about 1,000 years ago, while 

 evidence of flexed burials reaches back 

 at least 2,000 years. 



Archaeologists have learned that the 

 ossuaries were usually the designated 

 graves for the upper classes, the most 

 important of whom were stripped to the 

 bones after death. Their disassembled 

 skeletons were stored in a charnel 

 house in the village until burial during 

 the "Festival of the Dead," which may 

 have been held on 10-year intervals 

 from 800 through the early 1700s. 

 The bones were either laid into the 

 ossuaries in distinct, separate bundles 

 or cast indiscriminately into a seeming 

 sea of bones, depending on the size and 

 shape of the pit. 



Skulls excavated from nobility 

 ossuaries at the Baum site in Currituck 

 County bear the red iron oxide pigment 

 from charnel house storage baskets, 

 Phelps says. Archaeologists can 

 distinguish the remains of charnel 

 houses from regular homes because 

 they contained an internal structure for 

 treating and storing the bones. 



Researchers derived information 

 about burial treatment and the "Festival 

 of the Dead" from the Great Lake 

 Algonkians, the Hurons, who were 

 observed by French Jesuit priests. 



But the historical observations of the 

 storage of the dead in Carolina Algonk- 

 ian culture refer only to religious and 

 political leaders. Statements about the 

 common burials are absent or ambigu- 

 ous. 



Phelps says Algonkian burials hint at 

 a more stratified society than those of 

 the Iroquoians or Siouans, who prob- 

 ably operated on a tribal level. 



WITH THE CARE 

 OF SURGEONS, 

 ARCHAEOLOGISTS 

 USE DENTAL PICKS, 

 WISPY PAINTBRUSHES 

 AND SIFTERS TO 

 UNEARTH BONES 

 FROM BURIALS, 

 SHARDS OF 

 CRUSHED POTTERY, 



JEWELRY, STONE 

 AND SHELL TOOLS, 

 HOUSE PATTERNS, 

 FOOD REMAINS 

 AND WEAPONS. 



However, it's apparent from the 

 Hollowell site, where 40 people were 

 buried, that even Algonkian ossuaries 

 contained a demographic cross section 

 of age and sex. 



The Baum burials are perhaps 

 coastal North Carolina's best example 

 of an ossuary complex that contained 

 the upper crust of Algonkian society, 

 Phelps says. Panther remains associ- 

 ated with nobility were found among 

 the ossuaries, which accounted for five 

 of the eight site burials. The remaining 

 graves were single units, probably of 

 commoners. 



About 250 people have been 

 exhumed at the Baum site, a presumed 

 capital town in Currituck County. 



Similarly, a recently discovered 

 Broad Reach ossuary contained nine 

 people who were probably of high 



standing in their community, Mathis 

 says. Their status can be calculated 

 with some confidence, he says, because 

 about eight tons of dirt were removed 

 to create the mass grave, probably 

 using large pottery shards as shovels. 



So far, the site has yielded 15 

 burials for 29 people, from the early 

 treatment of the dead to the final 

 interment. Mathis believes this is a 

 cross section of a fairly complete 

 mortuary complex. 



A second ossuary held the mixed, 

 partial skeletons of six people and a 

 cremation. Mathis says he's not certain 

 yet if these graves were from the same 

 period, but it appears the ossuaries were 

 for different classes. 



"What this may mean is we're 

 looking at a different rank of people (in 

 the second ossuary) and the fact that it 

 was not necessary to have all the bones 

 there, just a symbolic representation," 

 he says. 



This was probably the case at the 

 Flynt burial in Onslow County, which 

 contained the jumbled bones of 150 

 people. It is most likely Algonkian, 

 judging by its size, but well south of the 

 then-assumed Algonkian territory. 



Individuals represented in these 

 ossuaries by only a sampling of his or 

 her bones were probably not afforded 

 the privilege of charnel house treat- 

 ment. The families are thought to have 

 kept their remains until the burial 

 ceremony, and as a result, may have 

 lost some of the bones over the years, 

 Mathis says. 



"But it didn't matter. It's the 

 symbolism that counts," he says. 



The presiding chief or shaman at 

 the "Festival of the Dead" may have 

 ceremoniously stirred the bones of the 

 mixed ossuaries before they were 

 covered, he says. 



The presence of long-exhumed 



Continued 



COASTWATCH 1 1 



