Let Them Rest in Peace: Cemetery Analysis of Unexcavated Graves at the First Baptist Church

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Individuals Known and Unknown: Case Studies from Two Burial Contexts at Colonial Williamsburg" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Excavations at the First Baptist Church in Williamsburg, VA, revealed 62 burials on the west half of the lot behind the early nineteenth-century church. While three burials were chosen by the descendant community to be excavated, they also elected to leave the remaining 59 burials undisturbed, with the understanding that the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation would protect the area from development. While much information can be gained from excavating burials, this paper seeks to explore the wide extent of data that can be recovered from the unexcavated burials, including spatial analysis, artifact associations, and demographics. This analysis is further assisted by comparative examples of previously excavated Black and/or Christian cemeteries, which did not have the option of remaining undisturbed. ***Images of human remains may be shown in this presentation.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Individuals Known and Unknown: Case Studies from Two Burial Contexts at Colonial Williamsburg   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38769.0