A MOTHER’S LOVE

Blake Gahagan Maryville, Tennessee

Death was a very real part of  life for the Mississippian Indians. Death was an event that they contended with regularly, if not daily. This fact, along with their strong belief in an afterlife, was probably instrumental in the development of the Southern Death Cult Religion. One of the mortuary practices of this religion was the placement of burial offerings with the dead to take on their journey to the afterlife. On a few occasions, very elaborate and unusual objects were made specifically as burial accompaniments. These gifts for the dead included a wide variety of objects such as pottery vessels, elaborate flint blades, finely made projectile points, shell gorgets and ornaments and various other items. The quality and quantity of  these burial offerings often depended in large part on the status of the individual.

In this case an infant buried from the Southern Death Cult type was recovered at the Campbell site in Pemiscot County, Missouri, by the Main brothers of Neelyville, Missouri (2000: Dr. Jim Cherry, personal communication). The buried child was of indeterminate sex, and the bone preservation was poor. Two unusual pottery vessels were placed within the burial as offerings. These vessels included a small headpot and a breast effigy water bottle. Both vessels were painted red and white. The most unusual thing about these vessels was their placement in the burial. The breast effigy bottle was placed so that the nipple was in the mouth of the small human effigy headpot (1984:  Bill Rowlett, personal communication).

The facial features of this small headpot were child-like, unlike the usual death-like countenance of most of the larger headpots. The headpot as an artifact is probably the nearest thing we have to actual portraiture left by the Mississippian peoples. In this case this headpot was most certainly made to represent the dead child.

Why was the breast effigy placed near the mouth of this headpot? It is possible this infant was still nursing at the time of death. The breast effigy, representing its mother’s breast, was placed in the mouth of the headpot so that the infant would not go hungry on the trip to the afterlife.

These vessels were likely made by the same potter, most likely the infant’s mother.

The mother was obviously very heartbroken by the death of her child, possibly her first born. Her great love and her strong Death Cult belief were reasons enough for the creation of these two special vessels.

This Indian mother showed her great love for her child in life and in death. She provided for her infant’s trip into the afterlife the best way that she knew how. What greater emotion is there than a mother’s love?             

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Many thanks to Bill Rowlett of Lafe, Arkansas, and to Dr. James F. Cherry of Fayetteville, Arkansas, for being kind enough to relate the information concerning these two to me.

© 1990 C.S.A.S.I. Last modified:
January 31 2004