“Carry Me to Yon Kirk Yard”: An Investigation of Changing Burial Practices in the Seventeenth-Century Cemetery at St. Mary’s City, Maryland

Riordan, Timothy B.

doi:10.1007/bf03377116

Cited by 10 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…By the early 1700s in the settled East, with more common access to lumber and at least semi-skilled labor, coffins could be routinely made and were utilized (e.g., Riordan 2009). But as settlement expanded into the wilderness lying westward, when death occurred Euroamericans at times had to find an expedient substitute for the wooden box or coffin, or if the primary burial container was available, a substitute for the outer box or brick vault.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nor were vaulted burials observed at the seventeenth-and early eighteenth-century English Catholic Cemetery in historic St. Mary's City, Maryland (Riordan 2009). Riordan (2009) noted that of the 47 grave shafts investigated archaeologically, 32 had unmistakable evidence of coffins, with the trend of coffin burial increasing to include 100% of individuals by the final time period of the site (1704-30). Even in instances where only winding sheets and no coffins were used with interments during the site's Early (1638-67) and…”

Section: British Colonial Burials In North Americamentioning

confidence: 96%

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“They Laid Planks ‘Crost the Coffins”: The African Origin of Grave Vaulting in the United States

Davidson

2012

Int J Histor Archaeol

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Grave vaulting, a vernacular burial form common in nineteenth and early twentieth century America, consists of a simple primary grave shaft at the bottom of which is dug a smaller secondary shaft or niche within which the body or coffin is placed. Typically loose boards are then placed over the secondary shaft to offer protection from the soil coming into direct contact with the body or burial container. This tradition is documented through historical accounts and hundreds of excavated graves through a survey of 86 historic cemetery investigations. Although its cultural origins have been previously unknown, this study argues that the vaulted burial form in the United States is likely of African origin. An extensive ethnological survey of historical and modern cultures throughout the continent of Africa, from 1602 to the mid twentieth century, documents both the vaulted grave form and its variations. Correlating this African cultural practice to its use in the United States demonstrates a hitherto unrecognized creolization of Euroamerican mortuary tradition with African roots, and its corollary, the retention of an African mortuary tradition by those of African descent.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: British Colonial Burials In North Americamentioning

confidence: 96%

“They Laid Planks ‘Crost the Coffins”: The African Origin of Grave Vaulting in the United States

Davidson

2012

Int J Histor Archaeol

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“…San Diego's rapid political change during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries-the region's inhabitants experienced four successive cultural regimes in 79 years-has made the SDGP especially interested and influenced by studies examining the effects of historical governance, ethnicity, organized religion, and notions of community on material changes in mortuary attitudes and practices (Ambler 1998;Benes 1977;Brandes 1998;Cannon 1989;Cartier 1993;Clark 1987;Deetz 1996;Gladney 1987;Gorman and DiBlasi 1981;Gudeman 1976;Jordan 1982;Leader 1997;Little et al 1992;Mackie 1988;McGuire 1988;Meyer 1989Meyer , 1993Mytum 1989Mytum , 2004Rainville 1999;Stannard 1973;Whitley 1994). The SDGP has also endeavored to strike a balance between indentifying broad cultural patterns evinced in meaningful parallels between grave markers and other forms of material culture (Davies 1985;Deetz 1996;Glassie 1968Glassie , 1999Jordan 1982;Larkin 1988;Lawrence et al 2009;McGuire 1988;Meyer 1989;Mytum 1993Mytum , 1994Mytum , 2004Ridgeway 1908;Riordan 2009;Veit 2009) and studying the individual identities of the people the gravestones commemorate or the carvers who created the markers (D'Aguiar 1992;…”

Section: Project Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 95%

Mortality, Money, and Commemoration: Social and Economic Factors in Southern California Grave-Marker Change During the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries

Mallios

Caterino

2011

Int J Histor Archaeol

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Social and economic factors significantly influenced grave-marker choice in southern California cemeteries during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Gradual changes in the American way of death since Victorian times underwent punctuated shifts in mortuary attitudes, commemoration practices, and funerary materials following moments of extreme social and economic duress. While the form of gravestones slowly evolved from large monuments to smaller flush markers during the late 1800s and early 1900s, they collectively experienced a pronounced shift during the 1920s, reflecting American responses to the devastating human losses of World War I and the 1918-19 influenza pandemic. Financial conditions directly affected decisions regarding those materials selected to mark the deceased as well. Although overall trends reveal that granite gravestones gradually replaced marble as the marker of choice in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, pronounced fiscal struggles during the 1907 Bankers' Panic and the Great Depression were evinced in distinct surges in less expensive marble and metal grave markers.

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2010

Quantitative Analysis in Archaeology

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“Carry Me to Yon Kirk Yard”: An Investigation of Changing Burial Practices in the Seventeenth-Century Cemetery at St. Mary’s City, Maryland

Cited by 10 publications

References 5 publications

“They Laid Planks ‘Crost the Coffins”: The African Origin of Grave Vaulting in the United States

“They Laid Planks ‘Crost the Coffins”: The African Origin of Grave Vaulting in the United States

Mortality, Money, and Commemoration: Social and Economic Factors in Southern California Grave-Marker Change During the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries

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