Community-Based Mortuary Archaeology On Sapelo Island, Georgia
Part of the Sapelo Island project
Author(s): Nicholas Honerkamp; Lindsey Cochran; Ray Crook
Year: 2011
Summary
“We can’t swing a shovel without waking someone up.” This quote from a Geechee resident of Sapelo
Island, Georgia expresses her distress about an ongoing problem at Sapelo’s Behavior Cemetery: the presence of unmarked graves and disturbances to them from recently dug graves. It also provided the impetus for a community driven program of mortuary archaeological research focusing on (1) discovering the spatial and temporal parameters of a 19th century slave site within the Cemetery parcel; (2) recording all extant grave markers in the cemetery and making this information accessible; and (3) identifying the presence of unmarked graves through the application of GPR in order to clear areas for future burials. This paper highlights the mutually beneficial nature of a public partnership with archaeologists that directly addresses social and religious priorities of contemporary Gullah-Geechee peoples while simultaneously answering basic questions concerning antebellum Gullah-Geechee life.
Cite this Record
Community-Based Mortuary Archaeology On Sapelo Island, Georgia. Nicholas Honerkamp, Lindsey Cochran, Ray Crook. 2011 ( tDAR id: 366367) ; doi:10.6067/XCV8PC30WS
Keywords
Culture
African American
•
Historic
Material
Ceramic
•
Glass
•
Ground Stone
•
Metal
Site Name
Behavior Cemetery
Site Type
Cemetery
•
Funerary and Burial Structures or Features
Investigation Types
Archaeological Overview
•
Systematic Survey
General
GPR Survey
Spatial Coverage
min long: -81.312; min lat: 31.374 ; max long: -81.151; max lat: 31.564 ;
File Information
Name | Size | Creation Date | Date Uploaded | Access | |
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sha-2011-behavior-final.pdf | 3.99mb | Sep 8, 2011 11:59:01 AM | Public |