In Death, a Story of Life: The Gull Lake Burial Mounds

In Death, a Story of Life: The Gull Lake Burial Mounds. . , What is a burial mound? , Today, tombstones in cemeteries mark the burials of people from nearby towns and villages. They may tell us about the lifespan, disease, or other aspects of a person's life. The Gull Lake Mounds mark the burials of ancient people that once lived in a villages near this location. In the past, archaeologists excavated these mounds to learn about their burial customs, diseases, and other aspects of early life at Gull Lake. They encountered the fragmented remains of 38 people, pottery, stone tools, and animals bones, providing clues to the identity and customs of these early inhabitants., Who was buried in the mounds? , The people buried in the mounds were of the Woodland tradition, which is a general term given by archaeologists to the later prehistoric peoples of the eastern North American woodlands. The types of pottery found in these mounds are common to the region and characteristic of particular prehistoric Woodland groups between 800 B.C. and A.D. 900., Accounts by early explorers and Native American oral tradition link the Dakota people to the Headwaters Region, suggesting that many prehistoric Woodland sites may represent the ancestral Dakota., The Woodland tradition begins with the use of pottery vessels, the construction of burial mounds, and plant cultivation. It was a period of population increse, decreased mobility, and a greater association with particular places on the landscape. Villages, supported by horticulture, or in northern Minnesota the gathering of wild rice, were occupied for longer periods throughout the year becoming larger and more established., Mounds and burials , Some mounds were ritually constructed over time with different burial episodes adding to the size and shape of the mound. At Gull Lake, it appears the earlier burials were placed in pits. The evidence suggests a fire was built over the pit before mound construction. Later burials were placed on the ground surface and mounded with earth., Approximately half of the burial areas within the mounds contained the remains of more than one person. Most of the individuals were represented by only the skull and long bones, suggesting that mound burial was the last step in the burial custom. The bodies may have been placed on a scaffold or other similar treatment and only portions of the individuals gathered for burial in the mound. This custom is referred to by archeologists as a bundle burial.