Social Bioarchaeology of Childhood Applied to the Analysis of an Excavated 19th Century Mennonite Cemetery

Author(s): Jennifer Hildebrand

Year: 2013

Summary

In 1852, a congregation of Anabaptist Mennonites from the Canton of Bern, Switzerland, immigrated to the United States to escape religious persecution, and settled in what is now Berne, Indiana. They established a new community, while retaining their religion, traditions, and heritage. The need for a cemetery was recognized, and the Old Berne Mennonite Cemetery served the community until 1896. The cemetery was recently excavated and relocated.  This provided a unique opportunity to conduct an analysis with a focus on child burials as a reflection of Mennonite religious identity, culture, and treatment of children. Non-adult burials in the archaeological record were studied combining the approaches of social bioarchaeology within the framework of childhood archaeology, for the purpose of identifying mid to late 19th Century Mennonite burial practices pertaining to children.

Cite this Record

Social Bioarchaeology of Childhood Applied to the Analysis of an Excavated 19th Century Mennonite Cemetery. Jennifer Hildebrand. Presented at Society for Historical Archaeology, Leicester, England, U.K. 2013 ( tDAR id: 428685)

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Keywords

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): 522