Naticoke Burial Customs
The Nanticoke tribe, initially living on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, migrated north around 1730, influenced by their connections to the Delaware and later the Iroquois. They practiced a unique burial custom of transporting the bones of their deceased across long distances, sometimes even in a state of decay. Excavations near their former village site revealed substantial ossuaries and individual graves, suggesting a complex burial practice influenced by cultural connections with northern Iroquoian tribes, indicating their longstanding habitation in the region.