Monuments in Danger? Study Done in the Jewish Cemetery of Victoria, British Columbia

Summary

Monument preservation is an important part of remembering loved ones. Because of the wide variety of stones and manufacturing techniques, there are many factors that may contribute to monument decay. Each factor should be assessed and measures taken to prevent further degradation. For this project, we attempted to determine what factors could be at play when looking at headstone deterioration at the Emanu-el Jewish cemetery. We considered four hypotheses: first, monuments under tree cover would be in better condition than those from the same time that were under open sky. Second, upright headstones would be in better condition than those that were flat.. Third, monuments closer to the ground would be in worse condition than those raised up out of grass and dirt allowing for organic growth. Finally, unpolished headstones would be in worse condition than polished headstones. As each of our hypotheses were examined, extra factors came into play that we had not foreseen (eg: organic matter decomposing on flat monuments). We concluded that where some hypotheses were easily proven, others had complications that could be looked into in further studies.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)   •
• Student Research in Coastal and Community Archaeology at the University of Victoria

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 17639