Thanks to all who responded to my inquiry regarding historic cemeteries. A
few of you suggested contacting third parties for additional information, and
I am in the process of doing this. In the mean time, I have compiled an
incomplete bibliography of the information provided by ARCH-L and HISTARCH
members for your use. If anyone cares to fill in the gaps, I would
appreciate it.
THANKS AGAIN FOR YOUR HELP!
Chuck
Niquette
American Journal of Physical Anthropology
1987 Whole journal dedicated to the excavation of African American
cemeteries and the resulting information on Reconstruction, Slavery etc.
Bada, Jeff et al.
19? ? . Applied Geochemistry 4(3):325-327.
Barba, Preston Albert
1954 Pennsylvania German Tombstones: A Study in Folk Art.
Bartel, B.
1982 A Historical Review of Ethnological and Archaeological Analyses of
Mortuary Practice. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 1:32-58.
Bell, Edward L.
1990 The Historical Archaeology of Mortuary Behavior: Coffin Hardware from
Uxbridge, Massachusetts. Historical Archaeology 24(3):54-78.
1994 Vestiges of Mortality and Remembrance: A Bibliography on the Historical
Archaeology of Cemeteries. Scarecrow Press, 52 Liberty Street, Box 4167,
Metuchen, NJ 08840. Ph. 800-537-7107.
indexed bibliography of some 1600 reports on historical cemeteries.
Benes. Peter
1977 The Masks of Orthodoxy: Folk Gravestone Carving in Plymouth County.
Massachusetts, 1689-1805.
Brown, J.A. (editor)
1971 Approaches to the Social Dimensions of Mortuary Practices. Memoirs No.
35. Society for American Archaeology, Washington, D.C.
Bryan H. ([log in to unmask])
1994 Personal Communication Although a bit of a Stretch, you might be able
to cite James Deetz s work on gravestones in defense of cemeteries as sources
of anthropological inquiry. He was able to use them to demonstrate
behavioral shifts. Also, depending upon the age of the cemetery, it would
provide valuable material to study clothing of classes not well documented,
as well as the biological/medical realm. Personally, I find it astounding
you would have to defend a cemetery as an archaeological resource. I mean,
there would be no questioning of it if it were prehistoric, would there? But
as and Historical Archaeologist, I ve seen that attitude of we already know
it many times!
Butler, R. Stockton
1994 Personal Communication
Worked in North Carolina with NC Office of State Archaeology. Documented
various abandoned cemeteries. Documented each site location, elevation, soil
composition, arrangement of graves, water proximity, and other data. Purpose
was to: observe the patterns of Southern Folk cemeteries and their
arrangement, dispersion and abandonment.
Cannon, A.
1989 The Historical Dimension in Mortuary Expressions of Status and
Sentiment. Current Anthropology 30:437-458.
Cohen-Williams, A.
1994 Personal Communication Things that are not included in written records
are grave goods. Historic graves often yield jewelry, rosaries, crosses,
etc., as well as articles of clothing, i.e. buttons, etc.
Cotter, John et al.
19? The Buried Past: An Archaeological History of Philadelphia.
On excavated cemeteries
Dethefsen, Edward
1981 The Cemetery and Culture Change: Archaeological Focus and Ethnographic
Perspective. In Modern Material Culture: The Archaeology of Us, edited by
R. Gould and M. Schiffer, pp. 137-159. Academic Press, New York.
Dethefsen, Edward and James Deetz
1966 Death s Heads, Cherubs and Willow Trees: Experimental Archaeology in
Colonial Cemeteries. American Antiquity 31:502-509.
Eakins, J. Kenneth
1993 Tell El-Hesi: The Muslim Cemetery in Fields V and VI/IX (Stratum II).
edited by John R. Spencer and Kevin G. O Connell, S.J. The Joint
Archaeological Expedition to Tell el-Hesi: Vol 5. IN Eisenbrauns.
field research from 1970-1983, American school of Oriental Research.
Excavation and publication of skeletal material and associated artifacts.
Elia, Ricardo J. and Al B. Wesolowsky (editors)
1992 Excavations at the Uxbridge Almshouse Burial Ground in Uxbridge,
Massachusetts. BAR International Series 564. temvs Reparatvm: Oxford.
Ford, Donald
1985 Abandoned and Semi-Active Cemeteries in Kansas. Higginson Books,
Salem, Massachusetts.
Francaviglia, Richard V.
1971 The Cemetery as an Evolving Cultural Landscape. Annals of the
Association of American Geographers 61:501-509.
Gillon, Edmond Vincent
1972 Victorian Cemetery Art.
Gordon, Terry
1982 Texas Graveyards: A Cultural Legacy. The University of Texas Press.
Jackson, Kenneth T.
1989 Silent Cities: The Evolution of the American Cemetery.
Little, Barbara J., Kim M. Lanphear, and Douglas W. Owsley
1992 Mortuary Display and Status in a Nineteenth-Century Anglo-American
Cemetery in Manassas, Virginia. American Antiquity 57(3):397-418.
Information on medical practices, paleopathology, and coffin architecture
(much more variable than headstones in this case). Good bibliography for
historic cemeteries. Excavations.
Linden, Blanche
1980 The Willow Tree and Urn Motif: Changing Ideas About Death and Nature.
Markers: Journal of the Association for Gravestone Studies 1:149-155.
Ludwig, Allan L.
1966 Graven Images: New England Stonecarving and its Symbols
McGuire, Randall H.
1988 Dialogues with the Dead: Ideology and the Cemetery. In The Recovery
of Meaning: Historical Archaeology in the Eastern United States, Edited by
M. Leone and R. Parker, pp. 435-480 Smithsonian Inst. Press, Washington,
D.C.
an example of how grave stone analysis can provide interesting data
regarding the communities which erected them.
Meyer, Richard E. (Editor)
19? Cemeteries and Gravemarkers: Voices of American Culture. (With an
intro by James Deetz)
Millard, Andrew
1994 Personal Communication There have been some important excavations of
some church burials in the U.K. You might look at the reports on the
excavations at Spitalfields, London - published by the Council for British
Archaeology 1993. Article in British Archaeological News (Sept 1994) about
an excavation inside a church where they recovered medieval textiles. There
are very many possibilities if you can identify the individuals. See for
example : Jeff Bada et al. in Applied Geochemistry 4(3): 325-327.
Moore, Jerry, Cynthia Blaker, Grant Smith
1991 Cherished are the Dead: Changing Social Dimensions in a Kansas
Cemetery. Plains Anthropologist 36(133):67-78.
Involves analysis of tombstone styles.
National Register Bulletin Number 41
Guidelines For Evaluating and Regeristing Cemeteries and Burial Places
Nutty, Coleen L.
1984 Cemetery Symbolism of Pariare Pioneers: Gravestone Art and Social
Change in Story County, Iowa. Journal of the Iowa Archaeological Society
31:1-135.
O Shea, J.M.
1984 Mortality Variability, An Archaeological Investigation. Academic
Press, New York.
Parker, Pearson M.
1982 Mortuary Practices, Society, and Ideology: An Ethnoarchaeological
Approach. In Symbolic and Structural Archaeology, Edited by I. Hodder, pp.
99-113. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Price, Larry
1966 Some Results and Implications of a Cemetery Study. Professional
Geographer 18:201-207.
[log in to unmask]
1994 Personal Communication: There are a host of bioarchaeological
questions, and other areas to consider. For example, the artistic nature of
the graves, grave stones, landscape features, decorative arts, etc. On
National Forests in S. Carolina, all cemeteries are given site numbers and
National Register status.
Rose, J.C.
1985 Gone to a Better Land: A Biohistory of a Rural Black Cemetery in the
Post-reconstruction South. Research Series N. 25 . Arkansas Archeological
Survey, Fayetteville.
describes the excavation and bioarchaeological analysis of an historic
black cemetery in rural Arkansas. Also a discussion of NRHP status. Call
the Survey, Nese: 501-575-3556, for more info.
Sloane, David
19? The Last Great Necessity
On American cemeteries in general
Thomas, D.H., S. South, and C.S. Larsen
1977 Rich Man, Poor Men: Observations on Three Antebellum Burials from the
Georgia Coast. Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural
History 54(3):393-420.
Toombs, Lawrence E.
1985 Tell el-Hesi: Modern Military Trenching and Muslim Cemetery in Field
I, Strata I-II, edited by Kevin G. O Connell, S.J. The Joint Archaeological
Expedition to Tell el-Hesi: Vol 2. Waterloo, ON: The Wilfrid Laurier
University Press.
excavation and detailed publication of skeletal remains and associated
grave goods.
Trubowitz (editor)
19? Clear Grove. Arkansas Archeological Survey pub.
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