Felons, Paupers, Or Overflow Burials? Un(der)-documented Burials In One Of Philadelphia’s Public Squares.

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "“We the People”: Historical Cemetery Archaeology in Philadelphia" , at the 2022 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Philadelphia was to be a “Green County Town” with wide streets and green spaces. As part of that vision five squares were created for the use of the public. In the eighteenth century some of these spaces were used as “potter’s fields”. Since burials in the squares was halted in the early 19th century, these squares have undergone substantial physical changes including, in one case, becoming a traffic circle. Archaeological work performed as part of the development of a portion of one of these squares identified more than 60 burials which were subsequently left undisturbed beneath the developed space. But who were these people for whom no documentary evidence has come to light? Were they criminals, African Americans, paupers, church members whose cemetery was full or just strangers in a strange land? Do we honor the dead by leaving them buried beneath utility trenches and modern development? Or should we do more?

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• “We the People”: Historical Cemetery Archaeology in Philadelphia   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2022

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology