What happens if you disturb an Indian burial ground?

Through their burial, the deceased provided their descendants with spiritual growth and sustenance as their remains became one with the earth. Any disturbance to the burial site is considered greatly disrespectful and is said to bring suffering to the descendants of the deceased.

Is it illegal to dig up Indian burial grounds?

It took five years, but in 1990, Congress finally passed the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, or NAGPRA, which made it illegal to dig, desecrate or take any Native American remains, funerary objects, sacred objects and objects of cultural patrimony from federal and tribal lands.

Was there an Indian burial ground?

For thousands of years, Native American burial sites lay sacred and undisturbed. But in the 18th and 19th centuries, as cities and towns expanded, often they were plowed over or dug up by treasure hunters. The Grave Creek Mound in West Virginia once housed the remains of the Adena civilization’s most respected members.

What Indian tribe built mounds?

1650 A.D., the Adena, Hopewell, and Fort Ancient Native American cultures built mounds and enclosures in the Ohio River Valley for burial, religious, and, occasionally, defensive purposes. They often built their mounds on high cliffs or bluffs for dramatic effect, or in fertile river valleys.

What were Native Grounds?

Native ground is the land belonging to a native (particular) area, tribe (as in Native American or other indigenous people), etc.

Was Poltergeist on an Indian burial ground?

It is, of course, an extended parody of the 1982 film Poltergeist, where a family led by the actor Craig T. Nelson battles ghosts in a new house. Except, there is no Indian burial ground in Poltergeist. The film does feature a cemetery, but specifically notes that “it’s not ancient tribal burial ground.”

Are Indian burial grounds protected?

Native activists won a landmark victory in 1990 with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. This law protects Native human remains on federal and tribal lands and mandates that federal institutions (or institutions that receive federal funding) must repatriate Native remains in their possession.

Did indigenous bury their dead?

Aboriginal burial often involved very distinctive cultural rituals such as the use of burial mounds, or burial sites built above ground, drying and embalming the remains, burying bodies in a sitting position, or marking them with red ochre.

Where is the old Indian burial ground in Michigan?

This Native American cemetery features decades-old spirit house hidden behind pine trees and moss. Been Here? Want to Visit? Situated on the side of W. Lakeshore Drive near Bay Mills, Michigan, is the Old Indian Burial Ground. Dedicated in 1841, the cemetery is associated with the Bay Mills Indian Community or Gnoozhekaaning.

How can you identify Indian burial grounds?

How Can You Identify Indian Burial Grounds? Native American burial grounds are typically identified by bone fragments and ancient artifacts found in the earth in an area where Native Americans may have lived.

What happened to a 4500-year-old American Indian burial ground?

A 4,500-year-old American Indian burial ground—one of the richest and best preserved found in California in the past century—has been paved over for a multimillion dollar housing development in the Bay Area. And archeologists are pissed. One angry archeologist had this amazing quip in the San Francisco Chronicle, which broke the story.

What is the difference between burial grounds and cemeteries?

Burial grounds are used by many cultures, with modern cemeteries being the most easily recognized in the United States. These are very similar to the so-called Indian burial grounds, with the key differences being the use of coffins and more extravagant and long-lasting grave markers.