City of (Inconvenient) Cemeteries: A Brief Synopsis of the Disturbance of Historical Burial Grounds in Philadelphia

Summary

Philadelphia’s many unmarked cemeteries and burial grounds have been repeatedly disturbed by construction activities in a string of incidents that stretches back more than 200 years. Incredibly, despite the regular discovery of these unmarked graveyards, City officials and local government agencies still make no effort to proactively protect these resources, and profess a wide-eyed bewilderment each time another one is impacted. Likewise, those responsible for disturbing burial grounds invariably feign exasperation and ask, "How could we have known?!" This presentation provides an overview of Philadelphia’s unmarked burial grounds and their history of being disturbed, examines how they become lost in the ever changing city scape, and addresses the reasons why they should be easy to anticipate and avoid.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

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

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 21794