The Arch Street Project: Multidisciplinary Research of a Philadelphia Cemetery
Part of: Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)
This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "The Arch Street Project: Multidisciplinary Research of a Philadelphia Cemetery" at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.
In 2016 human remains were discovered in Philadelphia at 218 Arch Street during a private construction project. The site was formerly the First Baptist Church of Philadelphia’s cemetery and, according to historical documents, the cemetery was relocated in 1860. The ensuing excavation in three phases during 2017 recovered nearly 500 burials. Research efforts surrounding the excavation and analysis of the remains created a multidisciplinary collaborative of academics and professionals dubbed the “Arch Street Project.” The court in Philadelphia granted permission for the Arch Street remains to be analyzed until September 2023. On September 1, all human remains, material culture, and associated samples were reburied at Mt. Moriah cemetery, the relocation destination from 1860. This session presents several of the research projects stemming from the Arch Street material. The synthesis of these projects into a final interpretation offers a fuller and broader picture of this unique site and provides an unprecedented glimpse into the city’s community from the colonial period to the early republic.
Other Keywords
Historic •
Bioarchaeology/Skeletal Analysis •
Education/Pedagogy •
Historical Archaeology •
Mineral Composition •
Salvage •
Methodology •
Ethics •
Burial Ground •
Forensic Archaeology
Geographic Keywords
North America: Northeast and Midatlantic
Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-9 of 9)
- Documents (9)
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The Arch Street Project in the Classroom: The Multifaceted Benefits to the Student (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "The Arch Street Project: Multidisciplinary Research of a Philadelphia Cemetery" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. It has become clear that current students thrive with a hands-on approach to learning. This type of engagement leads to an increase in achievement and interest among students (Erickson et al. 2020), as well as an increase of knowledge. The human remains that were unearthed as part of the Arch Street Project...
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Arch Street Project: Sustainable Collaboration and Learning after Reburial Using Digitized Remains (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "The Arch Street Project: Multidisciplinary Research of a Philadelphia Cemetery" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The highly collaborative nature of the Arch Street Project allowed for hands-on learning opportunities for university students. This was an especially valuable experience at universities that traditionally rely on replica human remains for teaching as it increased student access to taphonomic conditions,...
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Deconstructing Coffin Production: Cuts, Kerfing, and Closures (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "The Arch Street Project: Multidisciplinary Research of a Philadelphia Cemetery" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Excavation of historic burial grounds produce a large number of coffins but they are often overlooked in favor of hardware and grave goods. Yet coffins were often produced by the same craftspersons producing fine furniture and are often infused with evidence of highly skilled carpentry. Here, we present a...
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Detection of Yellow Fever Virus in Human Remains Using Mass Spectrometry-Based Protein Analysis of Dental Pulp (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "The Arch Street Project: Multidisciplinary Research of a Philadelphia Cemetery" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The goal of this project was to determine if the yellow fever virus (YFV) could be detected in historic remains by analyzing the proteins found in the dental pulp of the remains. Typical YF diagnostic techniques rely on blood or liver tissue so when these tissues are not recoverable, YF detection is currently...
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Elemental Analysis of Archaeological Hair Compared to Soil Composition: A Case Study of a Child and Adult Female (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "The Arch Street Project: Multidisciplinary Research of a Philadelphia Cemetery" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This case study focused on two individuals, a child (G-009) and an adult female (G-033), recovered with intact hair masses from the former First Baptist Church of Philadelphia (FBCP) cemetery. Hair samples from both individuals were studied visually using light microscopy and chemically using inductively...
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The Evolution of the Arch Street Project (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "The Arch Street Project: Multidisciplinary Research of a Philadelphia Cemetery" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In late 2016, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that human remains were uncovered at a local construction site, 218 Arch Street, formerly the First Baptist Church of Philadelphia (FBCP) cemetery. Over the course of 2017 three phases of excavation ranging from extreme salvage to controlled CRM excavation took...
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Multi-omic Analyses of Naturally Preserved Brains from a Philadelphia Cemetery: Insights from Molecular Taphonomy and Implications for Paleopathology (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "The Arch Street Project: Multidisciplinary Research of a Philadelphia Cemetery" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. As one of the first organs to decompose postmortem, brains are far more numerous than they should be in the archaeological record. >4,400 preserved human brains dating back some 12,000 years have been reported in the last four centuries; yet archaeological nervous tissues remain little-studied, with <1%...
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Use of X-Ray Fluorescence for Elemental Analysis and Resolution of Commingled Remains with the Arch Street Project (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "The Arch Street Project: Multidisciplinary Research of a Philadelphia Cemetery" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. During early excavations of the Arch Street Project collection, remains were commingled. Reassembling commingled remains is a long, difficult, and technically advanced process that can take years if not decades to complete. This study uses XRF on eight individuals from the Arch Street Project to assess the...
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“Young, Scrappy, and Hungry”: Social Upheaval and Changes in Food Resource Access in Colonial and Postcolonial America (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "The Arch Street Project: Multidisciplinary Research of a Philadelphia Cemetery" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Revolutionary War was a crucial turning point in American history, as the thirteen British colonies broke with England and established themselves as an independent nation. This research takes a biocultural approach to explore the impact of these dynamic changes at the individual scale in terms of resource...