Sioux Scaffold Burial

Description

This is a preliminary sketch for the scene which appears as Tableau 11 in the atlas of aquatints. The view was taken on April 28 1834 near Fort Pierre. The scaffold in the right foreground holds the remains of a warrior whose body had been brought home from a great distance. Another burial scaffold can be seen in the center background. Scaffold burial, on an erected platform or on the limbs of a tree, was a common practice among the Sioux and other Plains tribes. The corpse was wrapped tightly in a robe or blanket along with cherished personal possessions. The skeletal remains might later be buried in the earth. Maximilian observed many of these platform graves in villages and camps on the upper Missouri. He found this one unusual because of the vaulted, basketlike framework over the body, probably placed there as an additional protective device against scavenging animals.