In many Native American traditions human remains were most often burned in order to honor the now-inanimate person with a symbolic return to the Great Spirit as represented by the Sun and the Stars. Burials were reserved for persons who were thought to be possessed with evil spirits: this was done with the belief that by trapping the earthly remains of that person within the confines of the clay and heavy metals of the earth's soil the weight and spirit-trapping powers of the soil might prevent that person's disturbed, misguided, and/or mischievous spirit from escaping into the world of the living again. Thus, I question any assumption that the numerous "burial mounds" found around the Mississippian forest world (in Georgia, Ohio, Wisconsin, Indiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Louisiana, Illinois, Tennessee, Arkansas, Iowa, Alabama, Oklahoma, and Texas) might be burial sites for honored persons or for royalty. This is just another example of yet another grossly inaccurate concept that has been imposed upon the American public (and the world) in which indigenous cultures have been defined by and/or interpreted from European perspectives.
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