Historical and Bioarchaeological Investigation of the Evansville State Hospital Cemetery (12VG598), Vanderburgh County, Indiana

Summary

In 2014, Cultural Resource Analysts, Inc., conducted the archaeological relocation of graves from the Evansville State Hospital Cemetery. At the request of Beam, Longest, and Neff, LLC, on behalf of the City of Evansville and the Indiana Department of Transportation, the graves of 31 individuals who were patients at the reform-era hospital between circa 1890 and 1928 were relocated in advance of construction of a pedestrian bridge. The population consisted primarily of young to middle adults, with roughly even numbers of males and females. Numerous skeletal and dental pathologies were identified (e.g., osteoarthritis, degenerative joint disease, and healed bone breaks, along with dental caries, calculus, hypoplasias, and antemortem tooth loss). Other skeletal and dental pathologies that may have been associated with the admittance to or retention of a patient at the hospital were also identified, including deformities consistent with metabolic or other genetic issues. This paper provides a historical context for the treatment of mental health issues in the region during the nineteenth through early twentieth centuries, along with information about the health of the population and their treatment after death.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 20947