Uncovering Identity in Mortuary Analysis

Book excerpt: This volume presents a sophisticated set of archival, forensic, and excavation methods to identify both individuals and group affiliations—cultural, religious, and organizational—in a multiethnic historical cemetery. Based on an extensive excavation project of more than 1,000 nineteenth-century burials in downtown Tucson, Arizona, the team of historians, archaeologists, biological anthropologists, and community researchers created an effective methodology for use at other historical-period sites. Comparisons made with other excavated cemeteries strengthens the power of this toolkit for historical archaeologists and others. The volume also sensitizes archaeologists to the concerns of community and cultural groups to mortuary excavation and outlines procedures for proper consultation with the descendants of the cemetery’s inhabitants. Copublished with SRI Press