Mogollon Burial

Mogollon. The Mogollon peoples disposed of their dead principally by primary burial. Bodies were buried either between or within individual houses. When buried within, the bodies were actually placed in the structures after they had been abandoned as living quarters, although there are some instances where graves were sealed over with clay, implying continued use of the house.

 In the pueblo sites of Period 5, bodies were placed both outside and inside rooms and often beneath the floors of rooms, which remained in use. In general, throughout the Mogollon, graves were simple pits, and bodies were placed in them in flexed or sitting positions.

Cremation was occasionally practiced. This custom was followed in late Cochise times and it never completely disappeared. A variety of objects were placed in the graves with the dead, growing more abundant as the periods passed.

Besides pottery, grave goods included shell and turquoise beads, bone talismen or ornaments, shell bracelets, and chipped stones projectile points. Some idea of the perishable gear, which went into the graves, comes from the dry cave burials of Tularosa where Mogollon I Period interments were found with grass beds, rush mats, string and antelope-hide garments, and a stick-and-feather object.