Circle of Sacrificed Victims Skulls Discovered in Sioux Burial Mound in Minnesota
A painting was done by George Catlin of Mandan Sioux Indian skulls in a circle. This tradition of placing bodies or skulls in a circle dates back thousands of years. The following account may not represent human sacrifice but Sioux Indian's burial tradition.
History of Winona County, Minnesota 1883
No other mode of burial would satisfy their ideas of a proper sepulture, but after a time the example set by the white people of burying their dead had its influence, and in modern times, except among the wildest bands, the Sioux began to bury their dead soon after their demise. The body of Chandee, son of Wah-kon-de-o-tah, the war- chief of Wah-pa-sha, was buried upon my brother's property at Homer by special request of his relatives. His sister, Shook-ton-ka, the champion girl racer of the band, and some children of Wah-pa- sha, were buried near the site of the Huff house. After the treaty was decided upon by the band, many bones of the dead were removed and buried in secret places at night, lest they should be disturbed by white settlers, whom the Indians knew would eventually occupy the country. Some of the ancient mounds have been used by modern tribes as receptacles for their dead, but in such cases the fact is readily discernible, as no regard has been paid by the modern Indians to the strata of earth, clay, and sand, or gravel, of which the burial or sacrificial mounds have been composed. It is believed by some that the circle of skulls found in an ancient ossuary at Minnesota City were the crania of victims to some religious sacrifice around the altar-pole, or else of captives slaughtered and left, as puppies are left in modern times, with heads to the pole, which might account for the position the skulls were found in. At Bluff Siding, opposite Winona, along the wagon-road to Galesville, a number of mounds may be seen, occupying an admirable position for defense.
History of Winona County, Minnesota 1883
No other mode of burial would satisfy their ideas of a proper sepulture, but after a time the example set by the white people of burying their dead had its influence, and in modern times, except among the wildest bands, the Sioux began to bury their dead soon after their demise. The body of Chandee, son of Wah-kon-de-o-tah, the war- chief of Wah-pa-sha, was buried upon my brother's property at Homer by special request of his relatives. His sister, Shook-ton-ka, the champion girl racer of the band, and some children of Wah-pa- sha, were buried near the site of the Huff house. After the treaty was decided upon by the band, many bones of the dead were removed and buried in secret places at night, lest they should be disturbed by white settlers, whom the Indians knew would eventually occupy the country. Some of the ancient mounds have been used by modern tribes as receptacles for their dead, but in such cases the fact is readily discernible, as no regard has been paid by the modern Indians to the strata of earth, clay, and sand, or gravel, of which the burial or sacrificial mounds have been composed. It is believed by some that the circle of skulls found in an ancient ossuary at Minnesota City were the crania of victims to some religious sacrifice around the altar-pole, or else of captives slaughtered and left, as puppies are left in modern times, with heads to the pole, which might account for the position the skulls were found in. At Bluff Siding, opposite Winona, along the wagon-road to Galesville, a number of mounds may be seen, occupying an admirable position for defense.
