"Tombstones of the Rudest Sculpture:" Bob Schuyler, Stalwart Champion of Cemetery Studies
Author(s): Richard Veit
Year: 2017
Summary
Cemetery studies have been an important minor chord in historical archaeology since the discipline came of age in the 1960s. Generations of students have learned about seriation by reading Deetz and Dethlefsen’s seminal works on colonial New England tombstones (A project where Bob assisted with the fieldwork). More recently, many other historical archaeologists: Baugher, Brown, Cippolla, Crowell, Heinrich Mackie, Mytum, Stone, Tarlowe, and this author, have trod in this same well-worn cemetery lanes, gleaning new insights from old stones. By emphasizing and indeed celebrating tombstones as an important form of material culture worthy of study and able to provide significant insights into past societies, Bob Schuyler has kept cemetery studies firmly within the orbit of historical archaeology. This paper examines some current areas of research in the historical archaeology of the commemorative arts and points to new directions for further study.
Cite this Record
"Tombstones of the Rudest Sculpture:" Bob Schuyler, Stalwart Champion of Cemetery Studies. Richard Veit. Presented at Society for Historical Archaeology, Fort Worth, TX. 2017 ( tDAR id: 435397)
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Keywords
General
Gravestones
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Material Culture
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Mortuary Art
Geographic Keywords
North America
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United States of America
Temporal Keywords
18th-20th centuries
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): 251