"Cursed Be He that Moves My Bones:"The Archaeologist’s Role in Protecting Burial Sites in Urban Areas

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Advocacy in Archaeology: Thoughts from the Urban Frontier" , at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

The pace of development in the northeastern US has resulted in the obliteration of cemetery sites for centuries. As populations swelled and cities expanded, formerly sacred burial locations have become valuable land ripe for development. As a result of loopholes in environmental review laws, gaps in social memory/the documentary record, and governmental inaction, sites known or likely to have contained human remains have been disturbed by construction activities. Archaeological advocacy groups are in a unique position to help prevent such desecration to ensure that unmarked cemetery sites are properly tested and human remains are documented, protected, or respectfully relocated. This paper examines the methodologies used to identify historic cemeteries in cities in the northeastern US, specifically Philadelphia and New York, and discusses efforts made by local archaeological organizations and independent archaeologists to increase public awareness of such sites, and to ensure that no graves are disturbed by future construction efforts.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Advocacy in Archaeology: Thoughts from the Urban Frontier   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2020

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 994