New York African Burial Ground Archaeology Final Report, Volume 1. Chapter 4. Relative Dating

This chapter describes the rationale and methodology for dividing the burial population into temporal groupings. It is emphasized that the chronological sequence developed here is a relative one, the dates assigned to each grouping approximate. Burials are assigned to broad temporal groups on the basis of 1) location and stratigraphy relative to non-burial features at the site; 2) artifacts found in direct association with the deceased or in the grave fill; 3) coffin type; and 4) stratigraphic relationships to other burials. In many cases, the several parameters support each other, strengthening the assignments, while in other instances evidence is ambiguous.