Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust in Caddoan Mortuary Ritual

Summary

Sediment of varied textures and colors, ash among them, is highlighted from deliberately burnt Harlan-style charnel houses. These were erected in sub-mound pits. In one rendition that followed an earlier house burning, light gray ash alternates in the superior, or upward, position with the black charcoal layer of a collapsed burnt thatch and cane roof. The ash was levelled as a platform. This completed a mortuary cycle linked lineally to subsequent pyramidal mound construction. In other cases this dichotomy is retained as small marker mounds of dense black clay beneath light gray ash, as charnel pits and prepared flattop mound surfaces. Fire smoke and ash likely signified the passage of souls to the upper world, of life resurrected from death; whereas the black under layer was a metaphor of death.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 20202