An Introduction to the mortuary customs of the North American Indians

A systematic introduction outlines methods and questions for documenting Indigenous funerary practices across North America. It argues these rites reveal beliefs about life, death, and social relations, and recommends objective field methods: record treatment of the lifeless body, burial mode and site, grave goods and offerings, mourning rites and penances, and native explanations of spirits and the afterlife. The author emphasizes careful observation, repeated witnessing of ceremonies for different ages and statuses, reliance on trustworthy informants, avoidance of speculative accounts, and the value of comparative data from multiple observers to permit broader anthropological conclusions.