woodland period moundbuilders of the bluegrass - Kentucky ...

Differences in a person’s social status alone cannot explain themany paths to the Adena afterlife, however. The social standing ofthe person’s relatives and the economic resources they could committo the ceremonies likely would have played a part. Age, gender, andlineage/clan affiliation undoubtedly influenced how they buried a person.Something as simple as the season of the year also may have been takeninto consideration. Here, we highlight the most common forms of Adenaburial.CremationCremations did not occur as frequently as in-the-flesh burials,although they might represent untold numbers of individuals. Cremationtook place away from the mounds. It also took place before moundconstruction, in the open and inside paired-post enclosures, and at themounds. They built their crematory fires on prepared clay surfaces, or inshallow pits or clay-lined basins.They cremated some people in the flesh. These they wrapped in fabricand laid them out, fully extended, on their backs. For others, the fleshwas removed from the body before cremation. In these cases, they likelyexposed the body to the elements until only the bones remained. Thenthey gathered up the bones and cremated them.Once cremated, they had several burial options. Adena peoplerarely buried cremated remains where they burned them. Usually theyprocessed the body in one place, then took the remains to anotherlocation for burial. Sometimes they scattered the remains on the floor ofa paired-post enclosure. In other cases, they buried them in a pit dug intothe ground or dug into an enclosure’s floor. The remains could be kepta carved stone platform pipefrom Boone County34