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Corpse of Lakota Chief Spotted Elk After Wounded Knee Massacre
The dead body of Lakota Sioux Chief Spotted Elk (also known as Big Foot, l. 1826-1890) lies in the snow after the Wounded Knee Massacre of 29 December 1890.
US National Archives and Records Administration.
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Herodotus on Burial in Egypt
Herodotus’ section of his Histories on burial in ancient Egypt (Book II.85-90) is an accurate description of Egyptian mummification but he purposefully omits the spiritual significance of embalming in keeping with his commitment to refrain...
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Burial in Ancient Mesopotamia
Burial in ancient Mesopotamia was the practice of interring a corpse in a grave or tomb while observing certain rites, primarily to ensure the passage of the soul of the deceased to the underworld and prevent its return to haunt the living...
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Norse Ghosts & Funerary Rites
In Norse belief, the soul of the deceased might wind up in any one of a number of afterlife realms. There was Valhalla, the realm of Odin where the dead warriors drank, fought, and told stories, Folkvangr ('the Field of the People'), the...
Definition
Ancient Egyptian Burial
Egyptian burial is the common term for the ancient Egyptian funerary rituals concerning death and the soul's journey to the afterlife. Eternity, according to scholar Margaret Bunson, “was the common destination of each man, woman and child...
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Ancient Egyptian Mortuary Rituals
Ever since European archaeologists began excavating in Egypt in the 18th and 19th centuries CE, the ancient culture has been largely associated with death. Even into the mid-20th century CE reputable scholars were still writing on the death-obsessed...
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Norse Ghosts & the Afterlife
The best-known vision of the Norse afterlife is that of Valhalla, the hall of the heroes where warriors chosen by the Valkyries feast with the god Odin, tell stories from their lives, and fight each other in preparation for the final battle...
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The Soul in Ancient Egypt
At the beginning of time, the god Atum stood on the primordial mound in the midst of the waters of chaos and created the world. The power which enabled this act was heka (magic) personified in the god Heka, the invisible force behind the...
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A Teton Ghost Story
A Teton Ghost Story is a tale from the Native American Teton (Tetonwan) of the Oceti Sakowin (People of the Seven Council Fires), better known as the Sioux, on one of the possibilities of the state of the soul after death and how the living...
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The Resuscitation of the Only Daughter
The Resuscitation of the Only Daughter is a Sioux story about a young maiden who dies and returns to life, helped by a hunter and his wife, and then lives into old age. The story is open to many interpretations including the concept of fate...