Crow Creek Massacre - Skeletal Remains - The Massacre

The Massacre

Many of the bodies are missing limbs which can be explained as the attackers taking them as trophies, scavengers carrying them away, or the limbs being left in the Crow Creek village unburied (Wiley and Emerson 1993). Authors Willey and Emerson state that, “…they had been killed, mutilated, and scavenged before being buried” (Willey and Emerson 1993:227). “Tongue removal, decapitation, and dismemberment of the Crow Creek victims may have been based on standard aboriginal butchering practices developed on large game animals” (Willey and Emerson 1993:259). These are among a few of the mutilations that have been discovered at the Crow Creek site. In addition to these, scalping was indiscriminately performed, bodies were burned, and there is evidence of the removal of limbs through various means. As stated in the Willey’s dissertation, many of the mutilations suffered by the victims of the Crow Creek massacre could have been traumatic enough to result in death (Willey 1982).

A conservative estimate of villagers who suffered scalping is 90%, but the actual amount could be as high as 100%. This is based on skeletal remains that exhibit cuts on their skulls indicative of scalping (Willey and Emerson 1993). Men, women, and children were indiscriminately scalped with the only difference being that younger children were cut higher on the skull than other groups (Willey and Emerson 1993).