Bentham & Backhoes: a utilitarian approach to the First Baptist Church of Philadelphia cemetery excavation

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.

Archaeological projects that involve or encounter human remains must navigate a multitude of ethical considerations. Several established ethical frameworks can guide archeological decision-making when working in such contexts. This paper addresses the 2017 excavation of the First Baptist Church of Philadelphia (FBCP) cemetery. Now known as “The Arch Street Project”, what began as a salvage archaeological intervention has expanded into dozens of cross-disciplinary research projects, positively impacting students, post-docs, and faculty across nearly 20 institutions. Jeremy Bentham, considered the father of Utilitarianism, was a proponent of demystifying the human body and connecting science with the public. Utilitarianism speaks of reducing harm and maximizing Happiness, or well-being, for all affected individuals. This paper will examine how this ethical framework was applied to the challenges of the FBCP excavation and is one lens through which cemetery excavations could be viewed.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

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

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Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

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