The Grave Diggers’ Lament: Early 20 th Century Solutions to a Loose Sediment Predicament
Author(s): Molly A. Hall; Brett Lang
Year: 2017
Summary
Early 20th century excavators had to contend with loose, sandy sediments when digging the graves at the Scott Family Cemetery in Dallas. More than a century later, archaeologists had to find solutions for the same problem while moving that cemetery. Even with advances in technology and methodology, the pitfalls and solutions were surprisingly similar. The archaeologists found evidence that the original excavators shored the walls with wood, stepped the shafts, and had to dig the holes larger than necessary in order to overcome the loose, slumping sediment, which were exactly the things they found themselves doing in 2016.
Cite this Record
The Grave Diggers’ Lament: Early 20 th Century Solutions to a Loose Sediment Predicament. Molly A. Hall, Brett Lang. Presented at Society for Historical Archaeology, Fort Worth, TX. 2017 ( tDAR id: 435603)
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Keywords
General
Cemetery
•
Excavation Methods
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loose sediment
Geographic Keywords
North America
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United States of America
Temporal Keywords
Early 20th Century
Spatial Coverage
min long: -129.199; min lat: 24.495 ; max long: -66.973; max lat: 49.359 ;
Individual & Institutional Roles
Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology
Record Identifiers
PaperId(s): 514