While dealing with the physical anthropology of the Maisabel people, mention of cultural modification is noteworthy. Amerindians prized long, flat, sloping foreheads. To this end, fronto-occipital cranial modification was effected. Boards were tightly tied to the front and back of the head to achieve this modification. Amerindians of the West Indies shared this peculiar preference for mashed foreheads with their neighbors in Mexico.
Burial practices are good indication of the degree of egalitarianism in a society.
Special treatment for a few suggest a class hierarchy. Some evidence exists that a few headstones once stood above a few graves at Maisabel. Burials do not appear random at the Saladoid site on St. Eustatius. While some of the dead were essentially in a dump area behind the houses, another was carefully interred with a gift in a ceremonial area. Incorporated in the debris of Saladoid life are many pot sherds.