American Indian Culture and Research Journal

Native American societies throughout the Western Hemisphere have evolved diverse practices and complex traditions around the disposition of human remains. In the Central Plains area of the United States, Indian societies historically have buried their dead on scaffolds, among the branches of trees, and in the earth. For an unknown span of centuries, the Pawnee dwelt in the Central Plains, residing in earthlodge towns along the rivers of Nebraska and Kansas until their removal to Oklahoma during the 1870s.The four bands of the Pawnee Nation once existed as separate tribes of Caddoan Indians: The Chaui, Kitkahahki, and Pitahawirata are sometimes collectively termed the South Bands; the fourth group, the Skidi, differ from the other Pawnee bands in certain aspects of their cultural heritage. Mortuary practices and associated religious traditions may have varied among the four Pawnee bands, but available information indicates the prevalence of basic similarities rather than substantive differences. Ethnographic literature, Pawnee traditions, and historical records all were consulted during preparation of this paper on the treatment of the dead by the Pawnee people. These sources show a complex heritage at work, a heritage that continues as an active presence in the lives of the Pawnee today.