Mound 72 contains extraordinary burials: a famous beaded burial featuring two individuals (originally identified as two males, later reconsidered) on shell wampum bead ornaments. Some skeletons show finger bones digging into soil — possibly buried alive, though hard to prove. Was this ritual sacrifice or battle deaths? Grave goods included piles of arrowheads and an intentionally large obsidian leaf blade. 🦅⚔️
Mound 72 burials: Beaded cloak, possible battle vs sacrifice debate
USABioarchaeology
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Key facts
- Mound 72 contained multiple burials initially assumed to be sacrifices because they were buried together in a pit
- Burials could alternatively represent deaths from battle rather than ritual sacrifice
- Some skeletons showed finger bones digging into soil as if buried alive, though this is difficult to prove
- The famous beaded burial featured a male and female (originally identified as two males) on a shell wampum bead cloak
- The beaded cloak was shaped like a falcon, with the male facing up and female facing down underneath
- The mound contained elaborate grave goods including piles of arrowheads
- An obsidian leaf blade, intentionally made large, was found in the mound
- Mound 72 is identified as the lunar mound based on its alignment from the Woodhenge
- The Cahokia-style triangular points made at 27.1 degree angles were found in greatest quantity at Mound 72
Sources
Emerson et al 2016 Cahokia Mound 72 Beaded Burial plus ...academia.edu
The Beaded Burial complex at Mound 72 includes at least 12 individuals, not the previously reported 6. New analyses reveal the central burial consists of a male ...
Mound 72en.wikipedia.org
The mound was the location of the "beaded burial", an elaborate burial of an elite personage thought to have been one of the rulers of Cahokia, accompanied by ...
Fresh look at burials, mass graves, tells a new story of Cahokianews.illinois.edu
A famous “beaded burial” at the ancient city of Cahokia held both male and female remains, contrary to earlier reports.
Mound 72cahokiamounds.org
Mound 72 is a small, ridge-topped mound that appears on the McAdams Map of 1882 with a height of 10 feet (3.05 meters) and on the Peterson-McAdams Map of 1906 ...
Cahokia: The Bodies at Mound 72 - A Bigger Cameraabiggercamera.com
Each of them, mostly males aged males between fifteen and forty-five of age, were then clubbed to death, some decapitated, and tossed into the ...
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