The Choctaw Burial Scaffold and Bone Pickers

Often mentioned by early writers, the following is an account by Bossu, a Frenchman, is a fair summary:

"After a Chacta has died, his body is put into a bier made of cypress bark expressly for the purpose and placed on four forked sticks about fifteen feet high. After the worms have consumed the flesh, the entire family assembles. The bone-picker comes and dismembers the skeleton. He tears off the muscles, nerves and tendons which may be left. Then they bury the latter and deposit the bones in a chest after having painted the head with vermillion."
"Bone pickers" may also be rendered "bone gatherers". Cushman records their title as Hatak Fullih Nipi Foni; in other places they are called Iksa Anumpali and Na Foni Aiowa.

*From ‘Choctaw Chronology’ (before 1700) by Bob Ferguson