Law and Ethics: The Milwaukee County Poor Farm Cemetery Excavations in the Context of the Wisconsin Burial Site Preservation Statute

Summary

The 1987 Wisconsin Burial Site Preservation Statute (WisStats 157.70) serves as the basis for the protection of all burial sites in the State of Wisconsin and assures that all human burial sites be accorded equal treatment under the law regardless of age or affiliation. A burial site, under the law, refers to any place where human remains are buried and includes marked and unmarked cemeteries, Native American mounds, small family cemeteries, and other less obvious locations that are reported to the Wisconsin Historical Society. No burials, regardless of age, ancestry, cultural affiliation or condition may be intentionally disturbed without first obtaining a permit from the director of the Wisconsin Historical Society. This law also determines the final disposition of all materials related to the granting of an excavation permit. Excavation at the Milwaukee County Poor Farm Cemetery 2 in 1991 and 1992 and again in 2013 have provided a unique test of the application of the Wisconsin law. This paper examines the legal and ethical issues related to excavation, analysis and final disposition of all human remains, personal artifacts, burial hardware, field notes and field images associated with the excavations at the Milwaukee County Poor Farm Cemetery 2.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

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

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 20753