This paper outlines the early results of our investigation of an 18th century fieldstone cemetery in Pound Ridge, New York. The cemetery, derelict and forgotten for decades, was recently re-evaluated and surveyed. The site includes over 250 fieldstone gravemarkers in concentrated proximity and disorganized arrangement. While clearing the site for mapping, a small number of previously-unknown inscriptions were identified and recorded. These inscriptions indicate that this cemetery predates the earliest known burials in Pound Ridge, potentially altering current understandings of local settlement dynamics. A methodology to move beyond inscriptions and investigate fieldstones as material culture has been developed. An emerging fieldstone typology is suggested, and the results of typological analysis and spatial analysis are explored. The interplay between the selection, creation, and utilization of particular fieldstone morphologies and their spatial organization is applied to the examination of potential uses of the site by various groups throughout the cemetery’s history.

The significance of Stone Hill Cemetery, located in Pound Ridge, New York, is difficult to assess for many reasons. Made up almost entirely of unmarked fieldstone grave markers, the names and identities of those interred here are unrecorded. The number of gravestones, their crowding and the apparent reuse of grave shafts resembles cemeteries for marginalized or enslaved individuals, however, this interpretation is not supported by extant colonial records of the foundation and settlement of Pound Ridge.

This paper will place Stone Hill Cemetery in context with other known 17th and 18th century cemeteries and discuss the role of fieldstone graves and cemeteries in the interpretation of colonial sites and European expansion in the Northeastern part of the United States of America in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Burial practices have long been understood to vary both temporally and culturally. However, little research has been conducted using cemetery trends to compare contemporary historic African American cemeteries in different communities. Ayden and Princeville, NC are two towns separated by only thirty-five miles and the Tar River. Despite the towns’ proximity, their histories are vastly different. Ayden has been home to both white and African American individuals, often separated by social and economic divisions. Princeville was founded by previously enslaved African Americans who flocked to the relative safety of a Union Army encampment and is the oldest continually occupied town in the United States founded by African Americans. Though they are similar in size today, both communities have historically existed in different environments. This research seeks, by comparing trends in gravemarker construction and design, to show how these patterns can represent unique aspects of communities that may otherwise be missed.

Until now, GIS (Geographic Information Systems) and spatial analysis have been underutilized in the investigation of the development of extant historic cemeteries and their memorials. Using the main nineteenth-century cemeteries in Liverpool, UK, it is possible to explore how the material aspects of memorials affected, or were affected by, their location. The development of the cemeteries and the spatial organization of memorials within them can reflect management style as well as personal choice, and comparing several cemeteries reveals notable differences. On a wider scale, the relationship between the city and burial ground can be visualized and analyzed. When considering not only the move of the burial place away from the city center, but also the locations of the residences of the deceased and the locations of local masonry firms, a wider picture shows the way the city and its inhabitants interacted with the cemetery.

Ozark National Scenic Riverways preserves the natural and cultural resources found along the Current and Jacks Fork Rivers in southern Missouri. Among the most treasured of these are the numerous historic family and community cemeteries within the park’s boundaries. Many of the cemeteries, abandoned over a century ago as rural homesteads were exchanged for economic opportunities in industrial centers, are now reestablished forests. Increased storm severity, flooding, and wildfire are pre-existing threats enhanced by a changing climate. Because of the historically isolated nature of communities in the Ozarks, many of the cemeteries within the park include above-ground stylistic elements potentially endemic to the region that provide great insight into rural mortuary practices. The park recently completed a comprehensive Cemetery Management Plan with the goal of reclaiming and inventorying lost cemeteries, protecting resources from further encroachment and damage, and strengthening our relationship with local communities through documentation of these beloved sites.

The Tulocay Cemetery research project is digitizing over 150 years of historical death and plot sale records for the largest cemetery in Napa Valley, California from 1859 to present day. The project’s goal is to transcribe the records to a digital format and map the location of the historic graves so they may be easily accessed and navigated. The project will produce a navigable catalog linked to GPS. In addition, digitizing the records collects data sets that track the epidemiological curve, immigration, and succession of illness in the region. This paper will present on the procedure of bringing Historical cemeteries into the modern era as well as initial findings from the data.

Following emancipation, many formerly enslaved Texas formed close-knit communities known as freedom colonies, often centered around their church, cemetery, and school. Canaan Cemetery and Canaan Baptist Church, situated on six acres of Brazos River bottomland, was one such community until the church was destroyed by a tornado in the 1950s. The Archaeology of Death and Memory in the Brazos Valley project, initiated in 2020 on behalf of the Brazos Valley African American Museum, focuses on documenting and preserving the significance of the remaining Canaan Cemetery. A large number of well-preserved grave goods have been recovered from the site that represent unique burial traditions practiced by some post-emancipation Black Texas. The number of artifacts collected at Canaan Cemetery now surpasses 800; many of them shed important light on unique freedom colony burial practices, proving Canaan Cemetery to be one the most well-preserved historical sites of its type.