Burial, Space, and Memory of Unusual Death
Part of: Society for Historical Archaeology 2019
This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Burial, Space, and Memory of Unusual Death," at the 2019 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.
Not always have the deceased received the treatment and burial according the traditions that were common in their community. Either traditions or norms, circumstances of the death, their living environment, or the deceased themselves, could cause the community to bury the deceased in deviant ways. "Unusual death" or burial custom could be caused by various reasons, such as epidemics, wars, premature birth, different social status or disablement for instance.
What in the burial customs indicates unusual death or unusual ways of remembering and what does it mean? What makes a burial to be understood as unusual by archaeologists? What kind of ethical questions are related to the handling of unusual deceased or researching them? What kind of history and contexts related to unusual death we want to remember? What unwanted and unpleasant aspects have been related to death during different times?
Other Keywords
death •
bioarchaeology •
Medicine •
Zooarchaeology •
Diseases •
Dogs •
Cemeteries •
Children •
Stable Isotopes •
Burial
Temporal Keywords
19th Century •
Medieval •
Historical •
Eighteenth century •
18th-19th century •
19th/20th Century
Geographic Keywords
Europe (Continent) •
Finland •
Republic of Finland (Country) •
Turku Ja Pori (State / Territory) •
Ahvenanmaa (State / Territory) •
Vaasa (State / Territory) •
Oulu (State / Territory) •
Kymi (State / Territory) •
Mikkeli (State / Territory) •
Uusimaa (State / Territory)
Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-7 of 7)
- Documents (7)
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Dog 6: The Life and Death of A Good Boy in Eighteenth-Century Virginia (2019)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Burial, Space, and Memory of Unusual Death" session, at the 2019 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. Colonial Williamsburg archaeologists encountered a series of dog burials during an excavation of the eighteenth-century Public Armoury site in Colonial Williamsburg. Among these already uncommon eighteenth-century burials, one dog in particular stood out: Dog 6, an elderly male with evidence of multiple healed injuries, unusual skeletal...
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Forgotten and Remembered: Unusual Memorial Practices at Buffalo’s Old Cemeteries (2019)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Burial, Space, and Memory of Unusual Death" session, at the 2019 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. Several cemeteries were established during the 19th century at Buffalo, NY. Today many of these cemeteries do not exist. Throughout decades human remains have been revealed by construction work, but about 1200 burials and memorial stones from different cemeteries were moved to new Forest Lawn cemetery after its establishment in 1850. These...
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Mass Graves of Finnish War in Northern Finland – Analyses of One Casualty (2019)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Burial, Space, and Memory of Unusual Death" session, at the 2019 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. After the Finnish war (1808–1809), Sweden surrendered its eastern parts (Finland) to Russia. According a treaty, the Swedish troops retreated northwards from Oulu to the Swedish side. The journey proved harsh for the sick, weakened troops wandering in the snow without proper winter-gear. Many would not make it. For the rest, the hastily...
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Memory and Fear of Pestilent in Northern Finland (2019)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Burial, Space, and Memory of Unusual Death" session, at the 2019 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. During the 17th and the 18th century Finland, then part of Sweden, suffered from raging plague epidemics. Miasma, the idea of diseases spreading through foul smelling air, caused people to fear illnesses and corpses that had died during the epidemics such as plague. The traditional final resting place under the protecting roofs of churches...
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‘On the Apparitions of Drowned Men’: Unnatural Death, Folklore, and Bioarchaeology at Haffjarðarey, Western Iceland. (2019)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Burial, Space, and Memory of Unusual Death" session, at the 2019 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. The church of Saint Nicholas at Haffjarðarey (1200 to 1563 CE) was active during two outbreaks of bubonic plague, religious transitions, and the establishment of the Icelandic fishing industry. Both the church and cemetery were suddenly closed and abandoned in 1563 after the supposed sudden deaths of the priest and parishioners after...
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Reactions to tragedy: familial and community memorials to sudden deaths in Britain and Ireland (2019)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Burial, Space, and Memory of Unusual Death" session, at the 2019 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. Investment in memorials to those who died in tragic circumstances fits within the contemporary commemorative traditions of the time, but also often shows distinct difference in reaction and investment. This paper examines commemoration of deaths from 19th- and early 20th- century occupational accidents to understand the ways in which grieving...
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Sawed Bones - Archaeological History of Autopsies in Finland (2019)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Burial, Space, and Memory of Unusual Death" session, at the 2019 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. The 18-19th century laws and regulations in Sweden and Finland stated that an autopsy should be carried out in suspected criminal cases to determine cause of death. According to contemporary sources, non-anatomical autopsies were quite rare, and only performed to a distinct group of people: those who had committed suicide, died in hospital or...