The Down and Dirty: Differential Preservation of Burials from Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Cemeteries on Sint Eustatius, Dutch Caribbean

Summary

This is an abstract from the "NSF REU Site: Exploring Globalization through Archaeology 2019–2020 Session, St. Eustatius, Dutch Caribbean" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

This study explores the markedly different preservation of skeletal remains from two historic cemeteries situated within 500 m of each other on the Dutch Caribbean island of Sint Eustatius. The burials of eighteenth-century enslaved Africans are located along the coast and are eroding onto the beach below. The nineteenth-century graveyard was associated with a nearby leper colony, known as the Lazaretto, and despite being nearly a century younger, the skeletal remains are in far worse condition. Qualitative and quantitative analysis of the differential preservation present in the cranial elements and long bones was performed, and ArcGIS was used to visually depict the taphonomic differences between the two sites. Several variables were evaluated, including grave depth, soil attributes, and funerary practices to explain the variation observed.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• NSF REU Site: Exploring Globalization through Archaeology 2019–2020 Session, St. Eustatius, Dutch Caribbean   •
• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 30903