Indigenous Mortuary Practices Prior to Spanish Influence and Its Cultural Significance
Disciplines
Archaeological Anthropology
Abstract (300 words maximum)
For the Mississippian period (AD 900-1550), we have gathered a great deal of information about the indigenous way of life. Archaeological research has been done on many cultural aspects of Mississippian people in the Southeast, including studies on the nature and extent of their villages, socio-political relationships between villages, the construction of earthen mounds, the food they produced, the size and shape of their houses, how they created their pottery and stone tools, among other practices. However, when it comes to burial practices of Mississippian people there is little information. How they dealt with and respected their dead is (and has always been) part of their culture. What archaeological information is available is decades old. Some of this may be the result of old archaeological practices of caring more about the significance of the grave goods than the significance of the burial itself. Some of it may also be due to the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) enacted in 1990. NAGPRA is a federal law that protects the human remains, mortuary artifacts, and sacred objects of indigenous people. It also helps ensure that ancestral remains and associated grave goods are returned to the appropriate descendant tribe(s). This poster focuses on understanding the burial practices of Mississippian people across Georgia. Questions I will be asking include: What was the significance of mound burials? Did mound burials persist throughout the Mississippian period or did it change over time? How did burial practices differ between major sites and between large and small sites? What was the significance of the grave goods and why did only some burials have grave goods? It is hoped that this study will lead to a more thorough understanding of the cultural significance of why Mississippian people buried their people the way they did.
Academic department under which the project should be listed
RCHSS - Geography & Anthropology
Primary Investigator (PI) Name
Terry Powis
Indigenous Mortuary Practices Prior to Spanish Influence and Its Cultural Significance
For the Mississippian period (AD 900-1550), we have gathered a great deal of information about the indigenous way of life. Archaeological research has been done on many cultural aspects of Mississippian people in the Southeast, including studies on the nature and extent of their villages, socio-political relationships between villages, the construction of earthen mounds, the food they produced, the size and shape of their houses, how they created their pottery and stone tools, among other practices. However, when it comes to burial practices of Mississippian people there is little information. How they dealt with and respected their dead is (and has always been) part of their culture. What archaeological information is available is decades old. Some of this may be the result of old archaeological practices of caring more about the significance of the grave goods than the significance of the burial itself. Some of it may also be due to the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) enacted in 1990. NAGPRA is a federal law that protects the human remains, mortuary artifacts, and sacred objects of indigenous people. It also helps ensure that ancestral remains and associated grave goods are returned to the appropriate descendant tribe(s). This poster focuses on understanding the burial practices of Mississippian people across Georgia. Questions I will be asking include: What was the significance of mound burials? Did mound burials persist throughout the Mississippian period or did it change over time? How did burial practices differ between major sites and between large and small sites? What was the significance of the grave goods and why did only some burials have grave goods? It is hoped that this study will lead to a more thorough understanding of the cultural significance of why Mississippian people buried their people the way they did.