As has been seen, there were two methods of disposing of the dead—by inhumation and by cremation. The former may have been either house burial or burial in the refuse heaps in the rear of the buildings. With both forms of disposing of the dead mortuary food offerings were found. Evidences of prehistoric burials and cremation were found both on the mesa above Cliff Palace and in the ruin.[77]

The practice of cremation among the cliff-dwellers has long been known. NordenskiÖld writes (p. 49):

The evidences of cremation found in the inclosure at the northern end of the refuse space of Cliff Palace is conclusive. The calcined bones uncovered here were also accompanied with mortuary pottery, cloth, and wooden objects.

The flexed position of the bodies of the dead occurs constantly in the earth burials, which may be explained by the almost universal belief among primitive people that when the body is returned to "mother earth" it should be placed in the posture it normally had before birth. In house burials at Spruce-tree House the bodies were sometimes extended at full length, which may be interpreted to mean that the dead were not returned to the earth mother. There was no uniformity of posture in the burials at Cliff Palace.

The work at Cliff Palace was undertaken at too late a day to recover any mummified human remains, all having been previously removed. NordenskiÖld's figures and descriptions of desiccated human bodies from other Mesa Verde cliff-dwellings would apply, in a measure, to those from Cliff Palace.