Ron, I worked on a 19th-20th century family cemetery in Rhode Island a few
years back. Although the most recent interment (1930s) had been autopsied,
none were embalmed. We found that HEPA respirators and thin rubber gloves
sufficed. We had excellent preservation, though, in several graves. The
brother of the patriarch who established the cemetery was a bricklayer, and
he built a number of crypts. The patriarch was wearing a wool suit and a
silk ribbon tie. He had a full head of hair, a full beard and moustache,
chest hair and even hair on his arms. His wife and mother were in baptismal
gowns. The mother had a hairpiece under her bonnet, and in the bones of the
wife's hands we could still see the faint outline of the lilies that she had
been holding! The flesh was gone, but pretty much everything else was in a
remarkable state of preservation.
Under the circumstances, we were far more concerned with mold spores than
embalming chemicals. The absence of flesh was pretty clear evidence that
embalming had not occurred.
Lauren J. Cook, RPA
Senior Archaeologist
Richard Grubb & Associates, Inc.
30 North Main Street
Cranbury, NJ 08512
Ph: 609 655-0692 ext 312
Fx: 609 655-3050
email: [log in to unmask]
-----Original Message-----
From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Ron
May
Sent: Friday, June 10, 2005 12:47 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: coffin window glass
I do hope that people working in 19th century cemeteries are haz mat trained
and wear protective materials, as chemicals associated with embalming often
leak out into the surrounding soils and can enter an excavator's body under
the
fingernails or through open cuts and become a health hazard to the field
crew.
Prolonged exposure to such materials as arsenic could be fatal. I do not
think this is true of 17th and 18th century cemeteries, but then again some
of the
wealthier families used lead coffins and that could corrode and contaminate
the soil.
Ron May
Legacy 106, Inc.
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