The small cave at Bahía de Los Angeles contained at least seven burials:
six adults and "fragments of one or more infants" (Annual Report, 1888,
p. 128). These burials were extended with an east-west orientation
corresponding to the axis of the fissure; the foot bones were to the
west, at the mouth of the cave, and the crania were in the tapered
interior. The published report does not indicate whether placement was
prone or supine.
According to the Report the burials had been placed on a layer of sewn
rush matting (139533[1]; see "Matting"), of which three bundles were
collected.
[1] Numbers throughout this paper refer to catalogue numbers of the
United States National Museum unless otherwise specified.
The artifacts described here were found in direct association with the
skeletons. There are few details as to actual associations. However,
three hairnets (139534) were found on three of the crania.
To date, the use of small caves for the specific purpose of burial
appears to be characteristic only of the extreme south of Baja
California, in the Cape Region. Interments there were customarily
secondary, although primary burials, usually flexed, do occur (Massey,
MS 1). In the extensive area that lies between Bahía de Los Angeles and
the Cape Region, excavations have failed to produce cave cemeteries. To
judge from published reports, such a custom was rare elsewhere in
western North America.
A variety of artifacts accompanied the burials, but while the range of
types is large, the number of any one type is small. Preservation of all
specimens is generally good. We are fortunate in having perishable
pieces--netting, matting, cloth, and wood. Certain general categories of
items, such as household utensils and remains of foodstuffs, are absent
and unreported.