Skip to main content

ETHNOS_APP

Home • Search • Journals • List 0

Mortuary Display and Status in a Nineteenth-Century Anglo-American Cemetery in Manassas, Virginia

Bibliographic Data

ID2575194
AuthorsBarbara J Little (University of Maryland, College Park, corresponding author), Kim M Lanphear (Smithsonian Institution), Douglas W Owsley (0000-0001-5071-6910, Smithsonian Institution)
Year1992
Volume57
Issue3
Pages397-418
Publication date1992-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Antiquity (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-7316 • E-ISSN: 2325-5064
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/280930
OpenAlexW2028213415
LanguageEN
Citations received41
References cited35

In this study of an Anglo-American cemetery used between the 1830s and 1907, contemporary mortuary trends and cultural attitudes toward death provide the historical context necessary to interpret variation in mortuary display. Analysis of skeletal remains provides information on dental caries, dental care, and enamel hypoplasia and allows comparison of the relatively high-status Weir family's health with that of other population samples. Analysis of artifacts reveals four styles of grave decoration attributed not to intrasite status variability but to the appearance, peak, and decline of Victorian era cultural expressions of the 'beautification' of death. Within this wider cultural trend, intersite comparisons may be made of status display. The rise and decline of the nineteenth-century ideal of the beautification of death adds vital cultural content for understanding the material expression of an observed process that is a cycle of display

Archaeology · Beautification · Biology · Context (archaeology) · Population · Sociology · Demography · Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies · Historical and Cultural Archaeology Studies · History · Paleopathology and ancient diseases

  • Primeros resultados para la puesta en valor patrimonial del “Cementerio Sud” (San Andrés de Giles, provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina)

    Open Access•L H Luna, Leandro Luna et al.•Mundo de Antes•2019

  • Current bibliography of urban history

    Open Access•Nigel Goose•Urban History•1993

  • Infant Death and the Archaeology of Grief

    Open Access•Aubrey Cannon, Katherine M Cook et al.•Cambridge Archaeological Journal•2015

  • Emotional Practice and Emotional Archaeology

    Open Access•J E Baxter•Archaeologies of the Heart•2020

  • Enamel hypoplasia in a Canadian historic sample

    Open Access•Shelley R Saunders, Anne Keenleyside•American Journal of Human Biology•1999

  • Assessment of enamel hypoplasia in a high status burial site

    Open Access•A Cucina, M Iscan et al.•American Journal of Human Biology•1997

  • Chapter 10. Rethinking the Historical Dimensions of Mortuary Practices

    Open Access•David B Small•Archeological Papers of the…•2002

  • Our Silence Will Be More Powerful Than Words Could Be”

    Open Access•Rebecca Graff, J E Baxter et al.•International Journal of…•2025

  • Skeletal correlates of human behavior in the americas

    Open Access•Donna C Boyd•Journal of Archaeological Method…•1996

  • Mortuary practices

    Open Access•Catherine Carr, Christopher Carr•Journal of Archaeological Method…•1995

  • Recent trends in the archaeology of the southeastern United States

    Open Access•Ian W Brown•Journal of Archaeological Research•1994

  • The Man in the Iron Coffin

    Open Access•Douglas W Owsley, Karin S Bruwelheide et al.•Historical Archaeology•2006

  • Remains of the Invisible

    Open Access•Megan A Perry, Melinda Seeman Cherry et al.•Historical Archaeology•2023

  • Recognizing children’s graves in nineteenth-century cemeteries

    Heather Mckillop•Historical Archaeology•1995

  • The Quaker Burying Ground in Alexandria, Virginia

    Francine Bromberg, Francine W Bromberg et al.•Historical Archaeology•2006

  • Preparing for an Afterlife on Earth

    Charles H LeeDecker•International handbook of…•2009

  • Interindividual differences in embodied marginalization

    Open Access•Sophia C Dent•American Journal of Human Biology•2017

  • Beyond the Mediation

    Cassander L Smith•Early American literature•2012

  • More than acorns and small seeds

    Open Access•Tammy Y Buonasera, Tammy Buonasera•Journal of Anthropological…•2013

  • Mortality, Money, and Commemoration

    Open Access•Seth Mallios, David M Caterino•International Journal of…•2011

  • New Home Cemetery (41FB334)

    Mary Hill, Mary J Hill et al.•Index of Texas Archaeology Open…•2012

  • The Archaeology of a Pioneer Family Cemetery in Western Oregon, 1854–1879

    Thomas J Connolly, Christopher L Ruiz et al.•Historical Archaeology•2010

  • Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Funerary Hardware and Material Culture from the Historic Cemetery (ca. 1702–1859) of the First Baptist Church of Philadelphia

    Open Access•George M Leader, Kimberlee Moran et al.•Historical Archaeology•2021

  • They Laid Planks ‘Crost the Coffins”

    Open Access•J M Davidson•International Journal of…•2012

  • Status, Sentimentality and Structuration

    J E Baxter•Childhood in the Past•2013

  • Transformations in San Diego County Gravestones and Cemeteries

    Seth Mallios, David M Caterino et al.•Historical Archaeology•2007

  • The Confederate and the Freedmen

    J M Davidson, Rachel Black•Southeastern Archaeology•2015

  • Mixed Metaphors

    Open Access•Cameron B Wesson•Archaeologies•2008

  • Viewing the color line through the material culture of death

    James C Garman•Historical Archaeology•1994

  • Unveiling craftsmanship

    Open Access•George M Leader, Olav Bjornerud et al.•North American Archaeologist•2026

  • Mortuary Treatment, Pathology, and Social Relations of the Jiahu Community

    Barbara Li Smith, Yun Kuen Lee•Asian perspectives•2008

  • Beyond Death

    Open Access•Subodha Mendaly•OMEGA - Journal of Death and Dying•2024

  • Protecting Our Shared Heritage in African-American Cemeteries

    Lynn Rainville•Journal of Field Archaeology•2009

  • Do not cut the grass

    Greig Parker, Clare McVeigh•Mortality•2013

  • Dental health of elderly confederate veterans

    Open Access•Helen Danzeiser Wols, Joan E Baker•American Journal of Physical…•2004

  • Interpreting sex differences in enamel hypoplasia in human and non-human primates

    Open Access•D Guatelli-Steinberg, J R Lukacs•American Journal of Physical…•1999

  • Introduction

    Open Access•Helaine Silverman•Archeological Papers of the…•2002

  • Chapter 11. Narratives of Identity and History in Modern Cemeteries of Lima, Peru

    Open Access•Helaine Silverman•Archeological Papers of the…•2002

  • A Fisk patent metallic burial case from Western Missouri

    Open Access•Daniel J Wescott, Kelly Brinsko et al.•Archaeological and Anthropological…•2010

  • De morcegos e caveiras a cruzes e livros

    Open Access•Tania Andrade Lima•Anais do Museu Paulista História…•1994

  • Background to the University of Queensland Archaeological Services Unit's Lang Park Salvage Excavations

    Open Access•Kevin Rains, Jonathan Prangnell•Queensland Archaeological Research•2002

  • Inventing the American way of death, 1830-1920

    James J Farrell•Inventing the American way of…•1980

  • Mortuary practices, society and ideology

    Open Access•Michael Parker Pearson, Michael Pearson•Symbolic and Structural Archaeology•1982

  • Mortuary Practices and the Study of Prehistoric Social Systems

    Open Access•Joseph A Tainter•Advances in Archaeological Method…•1978

  • Sweetness and power

    Sidney Wilfred Mintz, Tom Perkins•Sweetness and power•1986

  • The recovery of meaning

    Mark P Leone, Parker B Potter•The recovery of meaning•2003

  • Mortuary variability

    John M O'Shea•Mortuary variability•1984

  • The Archaeology of inequality

    Randall H Mcguire, Robert Paynter•The Archaeology of inequality•1991

  • Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory

    Michael B Schiffer•Advances in Archaeological Method…•1986

  • Symbolic and Structural Archaeology

    Open Access•Ian Hodder•Symbolic and Structural Archaeology•1982

  • Death in America

    Stannard Stannard, David E Stannard•Death in America•1975

  • Archaeological Excavations at the Uxbridge Almshouse Burial Ground in Uxbridge, Massachusetts

    Ricardo J Elia, Al B Wesolowsky•Archaeological excavations at the…•1991

  • A historical review of ethnological and archaeological analyses of mortuary practice

    Open Access•Brad Bartel•Journal of Anthropological…•1982

  • Behavioural implications of temporal change in cariogenesis

    Open Access•Clark Spencer Larsen•Journal of Archaeological Science•1983

  • Passing

    Arlene Sheskin, Charles O Jackson•Contemporary Sociology A Journal…•1978

  • Social Inequality

    Randy Hodson, Gerald D Berreman•Contemporary Sociology A Journal…•1982

  • Urban Growth in the Age of Sectionalism

    Carl V Harris, David R Goldfield•Journal of American History•1978

  • The historical archaeology of mortuary behavior

    Edward L Bell•Historical Archaeology•1990

  • Archaeological Excavations at the Uxbridge Almshouse Burial Ground in Uxbridge, Massachusetts

    James Brown, Ricardo J Elia et al.•Journal of Field Archaeology•1991

  • Life stresses of slavery

    Open Access•Jennifer Olsen Kelley, J L Angel•American Journal of Physical…•1987

  • Demography and pathology of an urban slave population from New Orleans

    Open Access•Douglas W Owsley, C E Orser et al.•American Journal of Physical…•1987

  • Frequency and distribution of enamel hypoplasias in a historic skeletal sample

    Open Access•Kim M Lanphear•American Journal of Physical…•1990

  • Prevalence and age at development of enamel hypoplasias in Mexican children

    Open Access•Alan H Goodman, Lindsay H Allen et al.•American Journal of Physical…•1987

  • Dental caries, enamel composition, and subsistence among prehistoric Amerindians of Ohio

    Open Access•Kim N Schneider•American Journal of Physical…•1986

  • Health and disease at a South Carolina plantation

    Open Access•Ted A Rathbun•American Journal of Physical…•1987

  • Factors affecting the distribution of enamel hypoplasias within the human permanent dentition

    Open Access•Alan H Goodman, George J Armelagos•American Journal of Physical…•1985

  • A re‐evaluation of estimation of stature based on measurements of stature taken during life and of long bones after death

    Open Access•Mildred Trotter, Goldine C Gleser•American Journal of Physical…•1958

  • The Historical Dimension in Mortuary Expressions of Status and Sentiment [and Comments and Reply]

    Aubrey Cannon, Brad Bartel et al.•Current Anthropology•1989

  • The Hour of Our Death

    James P Carse, Philippe Aries et al.•History and Theory•1982

  • Social Inequality

    Open Access•Jonathan Benthall, Gerald D Berreman et al.•RAIN•1981

  • A Time to Mourn

    Kenneth L Ames, Martha V Pike et al.•The Journal of Interdisciplinary…•1982

  • Landmarks of Old Prince William

    Fairfax Harrison•The William and Mary Quarterly•1925

Unique citing works41
Citations per year1,24
Citation span1993 - 2026 (34)
Citation velocitycurrent
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 38
Ethnos_APP • Open Source Project • MIT License • Frontend v2.0.0 • Privacy and Cookies • API Documentation: api.ethnos.app/docs • API Source Code: GitHub • DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17049435 • Frontend Source Code: GitHub • DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17050053 • cruz.rio.br • Expectantes Misericordiae