Bioanthropological Investigations of Historic Cemeteries: What Can We Learn From Biological, Cultural, and Mortuary Remains

Fueled primarily by urban development, the recent past has seen an increasing demand for the relocation of historic and modern cemeteries. These cemeteries hold clues to the past lives of America's earliest populations, the free and enslaved, the wealthy and poor, and the healthy and diseased. Bioanthropological investigations of historic cemeteries have the potential to provide a variety of information on the biological, cultural, and mortuary aspects of these populations. On a personal level, bioanthropology allows for an interpretation of lifetime events and, on a larger scale, provides a demographic and sociological history of a past population. This paper will discuss the types
of information that can be determined through studies of historic cemeteries and provide a synopsis of methodological approaches for the recovery of data during the excavation and analysis of human remains and associated material culture. As Clark Spencer Larsen states, bioarchaeology centers on the lives and lifestyles of past people, with skeletal remains providing insights into health and well being, dietary history, activity, violence and trauma, ancestry, and demography (2002:abstract). In addition to these facets of the lives of past people, study of associated mortuary and cultural material provide a glimpse into past funerary ideologies and allows for interpretations regarding socioeconomic factors and personal relationships.