Cremation Among The Indians Of New Mexico

Toulouse, Joseph

We are here concerned primarily with the presence of cremation at Pueblo Pardo, and secondarily, only as it affects our problem, with its occurrence elsewhere in New Mexico. However, several problems arise: (1) Whence came the rite to the Chupadera Mesa villages? (2) When was it introduced? (3) What cultural process was the means of introduction? Problem 1. It is evident from the preceding account that cremations could have been introduced from several sources. One of these, the cavedwellers of the Guadalupe Mountains, could have been the group from which the rite was immediately received. In a search for this place of origin one does not have to look far, for there was, in the Gila Valley of southern Arizona, a prehistoric people who practiced cremation to the exclusion of inhumation. Problem 2. For a complete answer as to the time at which the rite of cremation was introduced, further research is necessary. On the basis of present excavations, the introduction of cremation is placed conservatively as occurring prior to 1300 A.D. Problem 3. Concerning the transmission of the trait, two methods seem probable, i.e., contact through trade or contact through migration. A third possibility, one which seems hardly logical, is that we have here a manifestation of independent invention.

Cremation Among The Indians Of New Mexico

Series