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

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.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• The Final Cut: Death and Burial Through the Ages   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2013

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Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 522