Investigating Cultural Aspects of Historic Mortuary Archaeology: Perspectives from Europe and North America

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Investigating Cultural Aspects of Historic Mortuary Archaeology: Perspectives from Europe and North America," at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Historic mortuary archaeology varies in greatly research focus and methodologies between different countries. This symposium comprises active researchers into the cultural aspects of mortuary culture (not human remains) above and below ground describing and analysing their approaches so that a comparative consideration can be gained in a field developing strongly on both sides of the Atlantic. Papers consider issues of past cultural practice and survival, variation in accessibility of historical mortuary materials, the ethics of memorial survey and excavation, and the application of a range of techniques on the same project. Including papers that consider above- or below-ground archaeology enables consideration of historic mortuary processes and the relative importance of different stages of this (from treatment of the dead, through interment to commemoration) to be materially represented.