IDENTIFICATION OF WOOD FROM THE CITY CEMETERY SITE, LOS ANGELES CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL #9, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

A total of 25 wood samples from the fill of 18 features at the City Cemetery Site in Los Angeles County, California, were submitted for identification to provide information concerning types of wood used as coffin wood for the interments represented by these features. AECOM encountered the features during mitigation activities related to the construction of Los Angeles Central High School #9. This cemetery served as the official city cemetery for the city of Los Angeles between 1850-1890. Although partial inhumation records for this cemetery exist, unregistered burials were conducted prior to 1850 and a program of burial removals with financial incentives initiated in 1913 often resulted in the removal of headstones rather than of human remains. Wood identification was intended to assist AECOM’s efforts to distinguish coffins from shipping crates and to determine the possible socio-economic status of the interred (e.g. burial in mahogany or pine coffins). Additionally, wood identification could suggest whether the coffins encountered during this mitigation project were locally manufactured (by a local cabinet maker) or imported, reflecting the degree to which late 19th century Los Angeles was integrated into larger commercial and transportation networks.