Polishing the Silver Covenant Chain

Continued from last week

Past Burial Practices and Sites

In ancient days, the dead were handled differently than today. When people died, their bodies were wrapped in hides and placed on wooden scaffolds. Eventually, the flesh would decay and when the villages moved to a new location, the bones of the dead would be removed from the scaffolds, cleaned and re-wrapped. The small bundles of bones would then be buried in group graves called ossuaries. Some bodies were buried in single graves, with the body placed in a flexed position, as if sitting on the ground with the knees folded up and arms crossed over the knees.

In the late 1500s, fifty percent of Seneca graves contain artifacts showing the rituals of burial had become more complex. By the early 1600s, graves were oval or circular in shape. The grave was lined with furs, bark or woven grass mats. Bodies placed in a flexed position, with the head to the west side of the grave. The body was then covered with bark and field stones. By 1660, sixty percent of Seneca graves had brass trade items and fifty percent had iron trade items.

Wray and Schoff (1953) and Wray (1973) note that the custom of giving the dead offerings continued and probably used up their stock of trade goods as fast as it was acquired. After 1700, there appears to be a mixture of earlier and later bead types found on sites, which indicates that cemeteries were being looted at that time and the old bead types were coming into circulation. By 1687, the extended form of burial was slowly being adopted and the graves were becoming progressively shallower until by 1779, they were barely below plow depth.

Wooden caskets of pine boards with a few iron nails were beginning to be used by 1700 and the burials were made in rows instead of circular plots of scattered graves. As communities were breaking up and families began living in individual cabins, the burial plots became much smaller and more numerous with each family having their own plot behind their cabin. Burial offerings were often placed beside the body with food at the feet.

The goods included in burials during this time were mostly manufactured items with little of native make, replaced by crockery, palls, and iron tools of the European trader. The bodies would be dressed in their best clothes and would have been accompanied with food offerings in ceramic pots, tools and weapons, including flintlocks, necklaces of shell, silver ornaments on the clothing and specially prepared moccasins. All that was needed in this life was thought to be needed in the afterlife.

The bodies would be placed at the western end of the grave. The body of the deceased is now dressed in traditional style clothing, but no glass beads or metal is placed on the body. Glass and metal last a long time, even when buried, so they are not placed in the casket. Cloth, ribbon, feathers, or wood items are still placed on the body, as they will decay through time.