Editing Funeral (section)

=== Western Yuman region ===
In the [[Ipai language|Ipai]], [[Kumeyaay|Tipai]], [[Paipai people|Paipai]], and [[Kiliwa people|Kiliwa]] regions funeral practices are similar in their social and power dynamics. The way that these funeral sites were created was based on previous habitation. Meaning, these were sites were their peoples may have died or if they had been a temporary home for some of these groups.<ref name="Laylander 159–176">{{Cite journal |last=Laylander |first=Don |date=September 2011 |title=Diversity in Prehistoric Burials and Cemeteries in the Western Yuman Region |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1179/cal.2011.3.2.159 |journal=California Archaeology |language=en |volume=3 |issue=2 |pages=159–176 |doi=10.1179/cal.2011.3.2.159 |s2cid=128819838 |issn=1947-461X}}</ref> Additionally, these individual burials were characterized by grave markers and/or grave offerings. The markers included inverted metates, fractured pieces of metates as well as cairns. As for offerings, food, shell and stone beads were often found in burial mounds along with portions human remains.

The state of the human remains found at the site can vary, data suggests<ref name="Laylander 159–176"/> that cremations are recent in prehistory compared to just burials. Ranging from the middle [[Holocene]] era to the Late [[Prehistory|Prehistoric Period]]. Additionally, the position these people were placed in plays a role in how the afterlife was viewed. With recent ethnographic evidence coming from the Yuman people, it is believed that the spirits of the dead could potentially harm the living. so, they would often layer the markers or offerings above the body so that they would be unable to "leave" their graves and enact harm.
[[File:Western Yuman.png|thumb|Western Yuman Region, California and Baja California]]

====Tongva====
In the Los Angeles Basin, researchers discovered communal mourning features at West Bluffs and Landing Hill. These communal mourning rituals were estimated to have taken place during the Intermediate Period (3,000-1,000 B.P.). Archaeologists have found fragmented pieces of a large schist pestle which was deliberately broken in a methodical way. Other fragmented vessels show signs of uneven burning on the interior surface presumed to have been caused by burning combustible material.

In the West Bluffs and Landing Hill assemblages there are many instances of artifacts that were dyed in red ochre pigment after being broken. The tradition of intentionally breaking objects has been a custom in the region for thousands of  years for the purpose of releasing the spirit within the object, reducing harm to the community, or as an expression of grief. Pigmentation of grave goods also has many interpretations, the Chumash associate the color red with both earth and fire. While some researchers consider the usage of the red pigment as an important transitional moment in the adult life cycle.<ref>Hull, K. L., Douglass, J. G., & York, A. L. (2013). Recognizing ritual action and intent in communal mourning features on the Southern California coast. American Antiquity, 78(1), 24-47.</ref>