A note on the burial customs of the Tasmanian aborigines

Abstract

The methods of burial as practised by primitive races are of distinct interest in assisting to trace their evolutionary history. Owing to the lack of authentic information in detail of the customs of the Tasmanian aborigines, our knowledge is, in many matters, vague and uncertain. Often the observations relating to the aborigines were made years after their contact with the white race, and naturally their customs had been affected. Further, the more one studies the early records and observations made by early colonists, the more one realises their contradictory nature. The available evidence which could be gathered from early records has been admirably summarised by Ling Roth (1899, pp. 116-122).