Stone box grave
Stone box graves were a method of burial used by Native Americans of the Mississippian culture in the Midwestern United States and the Southeastern United States. Their construction was especially common in the Cumberland River Basin, in settlements found around present-day Nashville, Tennessee.
Construction
A stone box grave is a coffin of stone slabs arranged in a rectangular shape, into which a deceased individual was placed. Common materials used for construction of the graves were limestone and shale, both varieties of stone which naturally break into slab-like shapes. The materials for the bottom of the graves often varies. Grave floors were made of stone, pottery, shell, dirt, perishables, or some combination of those materials, while the tops were formed by more slabs of stone. Grave goods were often interred with the deceased and included mortuary pottery, ceramic objects, stone implements such as celts, axes, and arrowheads, figurines, bone beads, dice, and awls, and personal ornaments including marine shell gorgets and freshwater pearls. Regional variations related to the size of the grave, the design (some were built with right angles and some angled inward at the feet).[1] The people of the Middle Tennessee region tended to place bodies in an extended position, while in Eastern Tennessee a flexed position was more often favored.[2]
In some instances small stone boxes were used as a secondary burial, with excarnated bones placed in as a bundle.[1] Some graves have been found to have been reused. The grave would be reopened and the bones of the previous occupant would be disarticulated and shoved to one end or side, so that the new occupant could be placed in the proper position. Instances of double burials have also been found, with two occupants interred simultaneously. This is thought to be a conjugal pairing, as the occupants are usually of the opposite sex from one another.[2] This type of burial seems to have been reserved for adult members of these societies, with few known examples of child or subadult burials in this fashion. Burials for these individuals appeared to have been made under house floors or adjacent to houses.[2]
Distribution
Stone box graves have been found at many different Mississippian sites, from the American Bottom[3] to the Deep South. The practice was especially prominent in the Cumberland River Valley of Kentucky and Tennessee; thousands of such graves have been found during excavations in the Nashville area.[1]
Sites such as
In archaeology
Since the beginning of archaeological investigations in the region in the late nineteenth century, the graves have been a source of interpreting the prehistoric inhabitants of the area. Some researchers classified the ancient people of the Middle Tennessee area as the "Stone Grave People". Joseph Jones, under the auspices of the
See also
- Cist
- List of Mississippian sites
- Mississippian culture burial mounds
- Southeastern Ceremonial Complex
References
- ^ a b c Dowd, John T. (Fall 2008). Michael C. Moore (ed.). "The Cumberland Stone-box burials of Middle Tennessee" (PDF). Tennessee Archaeology. 3 (2). Tennessee Council for Professional Archaeology: 163–180.
- ^ a b c Braly, Bobby R.; Harle, Michaelyn S.; Koerner, Shannon D., Chapter 12: The Middle Mississippian Period (AD 1100–1350) (PDF), p. 14, retrieved 2011-02-20
- ^ ISBN 978-0252068782.
- ISBN 978-0817354657.
- ^ Markuson, Kevin (1998-02-14). "Mound Bottom: Archaeological Investigations". Tennessee Archaeology Net. Retrieved 2011-02-18. Originally published in The Advocate, Volume 8, Number 7, Saturday, February 14, 1998
- ^ Barker, Gary; Kuttruff, Carl (Summer 2010). Michael C. Moore (ed.). "A Summary of Exploratory and Salvage Archaeological Investigations at the Brick Church Pike Mound Site (40DV39), Davidson County, Tennessee" (PDF). Tennessee Archaeology. Editors Corner. 5 (1). Tennessee Council for Professional Archaeology.
- ^ Gates Phillips Thruston (1890), The antiquities of Tennessee and the adjacent states, and the state of aboriginal society in the scale of civilization represented by them: A series of historical and ethnological studies. The R. Clarke Company. pp. 39–40.
- ISBN 978-0817354657.
- ^ Sellars Farm State Archaeological Area-walking tour brochure (PDF), retrieved 2011-02-18
- ^ Munson, Cheryl Ann; McCullough, Robert G., Topographic mapping and transect survey of the Prather Archaeological Site (12-CL-4), Clark County, Indiana (PDF), p. 8, retrieved 2011-02-16
- ^ National Register of Historic Places Nomination form-Dunklau Site (PDF), retrieved 2011-02-16
- ^ Brennan, Tamira K. (October 2009). Domestic Diversity at Kincaid Mounds. Midwest Archaeological Conference. Iowa City, Iowa. p. 2. Retrieved 2011-02-19.
- ^ Kauffman Site 23JE206, retrieved 2011-02-18
- ISBN 978-0817305529. Retrieved 2011-02-18.
- ^ Braly, Bobby R.; Koerner, Shannon, Chapter 2: A History of Archaeology in Tennessee (PDF), archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-11-03, retrieved 2011-02-20
External links
- Kauffman Site 23JE206-Stone box graves in Missouri
- The Tennessee, Green, and lower Ohio rivers expeditions of Clarence ... By Clarence Bloomfield Moore
- The Tennessee State Cemetery Law and Its Impact Upon Prehistoric Site Preservation – Michael C. Moore
- Tennessee Encyclopedia-Cox gorgets found in stone box graves
- Notice of Inventory Completion: Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, Division of Archaeology, Nashville, TN
- Stone Box Indian Site