Archaeology of Death

From pyramids and pyres to simple pine caskets, the different ways people treat the dead and mark graves can reflect how human societies are organized and individual identities defined. Unlike most other archaeological contexts, burials are intentional deposits that reflect conscious decisions as well as embedded cultural traditions and, often, religious beliefs. Students in this course will learn and assess different approaches archaeologists use to discover, analyze, and interpret mortuary evidence. They will also apply basic methods of ‘above-ground’ cemetery archaeology and genealogical research to help recover buried history and contribute to public scholarship, with a collaborative community-engaged project focusing on a historic African American cemetery in the Richmond area.