V.
As the years moved on, so did the people that visited Siwaba. Each summer new individuals and bands would take the place of those who were lost. The presence of each returning group was dependent on the outcome of the winter that came before. One constant over the years was the presence of Ni, Awaas, and Mateg. This was the case until Ni’s ultimate death. One particularly cold summer she developed an unfortunate skin infection that developed from a fish bone puncture. The infection quickly grew out of control and led to her demise. After her death, her family and Siwaba would never be the same. Her passing was especially difficult for Awaas. He remained withdrawn, stoic, and silent in the days and weeks that followed. This was not his typical nature. His change was noticeable to all, but to none was it more obvious than to his brother Mateg.
Awaas participated in Ni’s post mortem rituals alongside his brother and several female members of the group. In the days following her death, her body was cleaned with water from the nearby spring, and her body wrapped in a large elk hide. After this process was complete, Mateg and Awaas carried her body off to a nearby drumlin, a few miles south east of the camp. There Ni was placed upon a small scaffolding of birch logs and a small rocky pit was made by her side. In the pit they created a small fire. They stayed with her body through the night and would leave her at daybreak as the fire’s embers and the rising smoke began to wane. Many Paleoindians from the Siwaba tribe were put to rest in this manner over the years.
In fact, this was the same process and location that the boys’ own mother had been taken to following her death when Awaas was a newborn. It was commonly appreciated that this place of rest on the high commanding bluff allowed for the deceased to rest in solemn dignity. From this vantage point, their spirits could rise and watch over the coastal plain and those who lived off of it. This remote site would also limit the extended clan’s exposure to the realities of a decaying corpse, and the opportunistic animals who would scavenge it. By participating in her death experience, Mateg and Awaas would be indoctrinated into the psychic and physical reality of loss and grief. Although they had each other – each processed these complex emotions uniquely.
Soon after the first full moon following Ni’s death and burial, Awaas walked away from Siwaba. He did not return. It was not unusual for him to venture off on a solo hunt or foraging expedition, though he would typically return within a day or two. When he did not come back to the group, Mateg began to worry. Mateg reflected on his brother’s character and related it to Ni’s earlier stories of the mastodon. He recalled that the large beasts would return to the sites of their loved one’s death and would find comfort in caressing the bones of those who had passed. Mateg had faith that he would find Awaas back at the drumlin where they had left Ni’s body.
It was morning when Mateg walked to and approached the base of the bluff. There he found evidence of a recent small fire and a few of Awaas’ s effects that were situated between two large rocks. Making his way up the rising hill he found Awaas sitting alone on top. Ni’s remains had already disappeared, though there was evidence of recent animal activity about the site. As Mateg approached, he called to his brother. Unaffected by the visitor, Awaas had heard him coming and knew who it was. As Mateg sat down beside him they looked ahead together at the rising sun, calmly in silence…
While they sat, a large eagle flew overhead casting its shadow upon them as it passed. It landed swiftly in a nearby thicket of brush surrounding some juvenile pine trees. Awaas saw that as it flew by, the majestic bird had sticks in its mouth. It was starting a nest. They had seen eagles along the coastline many times before, and this encounter was not in any way unusual. Being a territorial animal, its acceptance of their presence on the bluff most certainly was. As the eagle continued to weave sticks, grass, moss, and other vegetation diligently, the young men watched. Soon another slightly smaller eagle appeared. The large birds worked diligently together before flying off over the distant hills to the west.
With the eagles gone, Mateg approached the thicket where the nest was being made. He found a single large feather. He brought it to Awaas and handed it to him. Mateg said, “She is gone, but she has left you this…” With this gesture, Mateg saw Awaas cry for the first time in their adult lives. It was then and with those tears that he would start to heal.
Every year, until the end of their own lives Awaas and Mateg would visit this spot and connect once again to the spirit of Ni and their ancestors. In his annual efforts of storytelling, Mateg would teach the others of the importance of connecting to the spirits of those who had passed on in death. He became a strong and wise Paleoindian man.
Coastal Plain 