Natural or artificial holes in the ground, caverns, and fissures in
rocks have been used as places of deposit for the dead since the
earliest periods of time, and are used up to the present day by not
only the American Indians, but by peoples noted for their mental
elevation and civilization, our cemeteries furnishing numerous
specimens of artificial or partly artificial caves. As to the motives
which have actuated this mode of burial, a discussion would be out of
place at this time, except as may incidentally relate to our own
Indians, who, so far as can be ascertained, simply adopted caves as
ready and convenient resting places for their deceased relatives and
friends.
In almost every State in the Union burial caves have been discovered,
but as there is more or less of identity between them, a few
illustrations will serve the purpose of calling the attention of
observers to the subject.
While in the Territory of Utah, in 1872, the writer discovered a
natural cave not far from the House Range of mountains, the entrance
to which resembled the shaft of a mine. In this the Gosi-Ute Indians
had deposited their dead, surrounded with different articles, until it
was quite filled up; at least it so appeared from the cursory
examination made, limited time preventing a careful exploration. In
the fall of the same year another cave was heard of, from an Indian
guide, near the Nevada border, in the same Territory, and an attempt
made to explore it, which failed for reasons to be subsequently given.
This Indian, a Gosi-Ute, who was questioned regarding the funeral
ceremonies of his tribe, informed the writer that not far from the
very spot where the party were encamped was a large cave in which he
had himself assisted in placing dead members of his tribe. He
described it in detail and drew a rough diagram of its position and
appearance within. He was asked if an entrance could be effected, and
replied that he thought not, as some years previous his people had
stopped up the narrow entrance to prevent game from seeking a refuge
in its vast vaults, for he asserted that it was so large and extended
so far under ground that no man knew its full extent. In
consideration, however, of a very liberal bribe, after many refusals,
he agreed to act as guide. A rough ride of over an hour and the
desired spot was reached. It was found to be almost upon the apex of a
small mountain apparently of volcanic origin, for the hole which was
pointed out appeared to have been the vent of the crater. This
entrance was irregularly circular in form and descended at an angle.
As the Indian had stated, it was completely stopped up with large
stones and roots of sage brush, and it was only after six hours of
uninterrupted, faithful labor that the attempt to explore was
abandoned. The guide was asked if many bodies were therein, and
replied "Heaps, heaps," moving the hands upwards as far as they could
be stretched. There is no reason to doubt the accuracy of the
information received, as it was voluntarily imparted.
In a communication received from Dr. A. J McDonald, physician to the
Los Pinos Indian Agency, Colorado, a description is given of crevice
or rock-fissure burial, which follows.
"As soon as death takes place the event is at once announced by the
medicine-man, and without loss of time the squaws are busily engaged
in preparing the corpse for the grave. This does not take long;
whatever articles of clothing may have been on the body at the time of
death are not removed. The dead man's limbs are straightened out, his
weapons of war laid by his side, and his robes and blankets wrapped
securely and snugly around him, and now everything is ready for
burial. It is the custom to secure, if possible, for the purpose of
wrapping up the corpse, the robes and blankets in which the Indian
died. At the same time that the body is being fitted for interment,
the squaws having immediate care of it, together with all the other
squaws in the neighborhood, keep up a continued chant or dirge, the
dismal cadence of which may, when the congregation of women is large,
be heard for quite a long distance. The death song is not a mere
inarticulate howl of distress; it embraces expressions eulogistic in
character, but whether or not any particular formula of words is
adopted on such occasion is a question which I am unable, with the
materials at my disposal, to determine with any degree of certainty.
"The next duty falling to the lot of the squaws is that of placing the
dead man on a horse and conducting the remains to the spot chosen for
burial. This is in the cleft of a rock, and, so far as can be
ascertained, it has always been customary among the Utes to select
sepulchres of this character. From descriptions given by Mr. Harris,
who has several times been fortunate enough to discover remains, it
would appear that no superstitious ideas are held by this tribe with
respect to the position in which the body is placed, the space
accommodation of the sepulchre probably regulating this matter; and
from the same source I learn that it is not usual to find the remains
of more than one Indian deposited in one grave. After the body has
been received into the cleft, it is well covered with pieces of rock,
to protect it against the ravages of wild animals. The chant ceases,
the squaws disperse, and the burial ceremonies are at an end. The men
during all this time have not been idle, though they have in no way
participated in the preparation of the body, have not joined the
squaws in chanting praises to the memory of the dead, and have not
even as mere spectators attended the funeral, yet they have had their
duties to perform. In conformity with a long-established custom, all
the personal property of the deceased is immediately destroyed. His
horses and his cattle are shot, and his wigwam, furniture, &c.,
burned. The performance of this part of the ceremonies is assigned to
the men; a duty quite in accord with their taste and inclinations.
Occasionally the destruction of horses and other property is of
considerable magnitude, but usually this is not the case, owing to a
practice existing with them of distributing their property among their
children while they are of a very tender age, retaining to themselves
only what is necessary to meet every-day requirements.
"The widow 'goes into mourning' by smearing her face with a substance
composed of pitch and charcoal. The application is made but once, and
is allowed to remain on until it wears off. This is the only mourning
observance of which I have any knowledge.
"The ceremonies observed on the death of a female are the same as
those in the case of a male, except that no destruction of property
takes place, and of course no weapons are deposited with the corpse.
Should a youth die while under the superintendence of white men, the
Indians will not as a rule have anything to do with the interment of
the body. In a case of the kind which occurred at this agency some
time ago, the squaws prepared the body in the usual manner; the men of
the tribe selected a spot for the burial, and the employes at the
agency, after digging a grave and depositing the corpse therein,
filled it up according to the fashion of civilized people, and then at
the request of the Indians rolled large fragments of rocks on top.
Great anxiety was exhibited by the Indians to have the employes
perform the service as expeditiously as possible."
An interesting cave in Calaveras County, California, which had been
used for burial purposes, is thus described by Prof. J. D. Whitney:
[Footnote: Rep. Smithsonian Inst. 1867, p. 406.]
"The following is an account of the cave from which the skulls, now in
the Smithsonian collection, were taken. It is near the Stanislaus
River, in Calaveras County, on a nameless creek, about two miles from
Abbey's Ferry, on the road to Vallicito, at the house of Mr. Robinson.
There were two or three persons with me, who had been to the place
before and knew that the skulls in question were taken from it. Their
visit was some ten years ago, and since that the condition of things
in the cave has greatly changed. Owing to some alteration in the road,
mining operations, or some other cause which I could not ascertain,
there has accumulated on the formerly clean stalagmitic floor of the
cave a thickness of some 20 feet of surface earth that completely
conceals the bottom, and which could not be removed without
considerable expense. This cave is about 27 feet deep at the mouth and
40 to 50 feet at the end, and perhaps 30 feet in diameter. It is the
general opinion of those who have noticed this cave and saw it years
ago that it was a burying-place of the present Indians. Dr. Jones said
he found remains of bows and arrows and charcoal with the skulls he
obtained, and which were destroyed at the time the village of Murphy's
was burned. All the people spoke of the skulls as lying on the surface
and not as buried in the stalagmite."
The next description of cave burial, described by W. H. Dall
[Footnote: Contrib. to N. A. Ethnol., 1877, vol 1, p 62.], is so
remarkable that it seems worthy of admittance to this paper. It
relates probably to the Innuit of Alaska.
"The earliest remains of man found in Alaska up to the time of writing
I refer to this epoch [Echinus layer of Dall]. There are some crania
found by us in the lowermost part of the Amaknak cave and a cranium
obtained at Adakh, near the anchorage in the Bay of Islands. These
were deposited in a remarkable manner, precisely similar to that
adopted by most of the continental Innuit, but equally different from
the modern Aleut fashion. At the Amaknak cave we found what at first
appeared to be a wooden inclosure, but which proved to be made of the
very much decayed supra-maxillary bones of some large cetacean. These
were arranged so as to form a rude rectangular inclosure covered over
with similar pieces of bone. This was somewhat less than 4 feet long,
2 feet wide, and 18 inches deep. The bottom was formed of flat pieces
of stone. Three such were found close together, covered with and
filled by an accumulation of fine vegetable and organic mold. In each
was the remains of a skeleton in the last stages of decay. It had
evidently been tied up in the Innuit fashion to get it into its narrow
house, but all the bones, with the exception of the skull, were
reduced to a soft paste, or even entirely gone. At Adakh a fancy
prompted me to dig into a small knoll near the ancient shell-heap; and
here we found, in a precisely similar sarcophagus, the remains of a
skeleton, of which also only the cranium retained sufficient
consistency to admit of preservation. This inclosure, however, was
filled with a dense peaty mass not reduced to mold, the result of
centuries of sphagnous growth, which had reached a thickness of nearly
2 feet above the remains. When we reflect upon the well-known slowness
of this kind of growth in these northern regions, attested by numerous
Arctic travelers, the antiquity of the remains becomes evident."
It seems beyond doubt that in the majority of cases, especially as
regards the caves of the Western States and Territories, the
interments were primary ones, and this is likewise true of many of the
caverns of Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky, for in the three States
mentioned many mummies have been found, but it is also likely that
such receptacles were largely used as places of secondary deposits.
The many fragmentary skeletons and loose bones found seem to
strengthen this view.