Hi folks.  At the recent South Central Historical Archeology Conference
in Jackson, MS, Guy Weaver and Jane Kowaleski gave an excellent paper,
"The Saffron Plague: Archaeology of the Yellow Fever Epidemics in
Memphis, Tennessee".  They interpreted some very intriguing fill
episodes encountered during some urban crm projects as deposits
associated with cleanup after the late 1870s yellow fever epidemics,
when there was deliberate effort to fill in cisterns and wells that were
contaminated, and there was a strong urge to get rid of lots of stuff
that was also maybe contaminated.  They see those epidemics and
subsequent cleanup as a potential horizon marker for all over urban
Memphis, and maybe even accounting for some rough burials found near a
refugee camp located where the big city airport now is.  Not only was th
paper a good set of intepretations, it also pulled together results from
several scattered (major) crm projects to make a genuine contribution.
 
Leslie C. Stewart-Abernathy
Arkansas Archeological Survey
Arkansas Tech University
Russellville, AR