Research Paper on:
Cherokee Indians' Mortuary Practices

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
fascinating of our cultural processes. Every culture has a particular manner in dealing with the dead, in preparing a body for its final resting place, in the manner in  which the body is finally disposed and the goods which accompany it. Practically all cultures acknowledge the events of birth, marriage and then death as the most important events of  life. Practically all cultures complex rituals and traditions specific to each of these events which have evolved and handed down through the millennia. The preparations which accompany death  are perhaps more interesting than any other since it is them that often survive into the future and sometimes come under archaeological scrutiny. In many cases archaeologists can identify  the culture of an individual on the basis of the way the body was laid to rest and the grave goods which accompany it. This is particularly fascinating in  Native American cultures in general and in Cherokee culture in particular. The Cherokee are only one of several hundred extant groups of Native  Americans. Their culture is an ancient one and one which, like most cultures, has changed over time. The manner in which the Cherokee deal with the dead has,  of course, changed considerably over time as well. While today Cherokee mortuary practices differ little, if any, from that of their non-Cherokee neighbors; prior to assimilation of European ways  the Cherokee had quite culturally distinctive and fascinating mortuary practices. These practices reflected, to some extent, their matrilineal culture and the distinct separation between males and females in Cherokee  society. They also reflected the distinctive kinship system of the Cherokee. The reflection of the kinship system in Cherokee mortuary practices is