Abstract
Graves from personally identified individuals from St. Thomas Anglican Churchyard, dated 1821–1874, were examined for features that differentiate children’s graves from those of adults. The study was facilitated by the presence of identifiable skeletal remains, abundant coffin artifacts including coffin plates that identified those interred, and associated historical records. The purpose was to evaluate whether or not there was a distinctive pattern in the archaeological record that could be used as a model for recognizing children’s graves in the absence of historical records or skeletal remains. Coffin length, number of coffin handles, coffin handle motif, and coffin handle size were found to distinguish children’s and adults’ graves. The presence of plain or decorated coffin handles, coffin plates, or glass viewing plates was not associated with age at death. Comparisons with other cemeteries and hardware catalogs indicate that the pattern is widespread geographically. Mortuary symbols of purity, innocence, and nature identify children with the home and heaven, in contrast to the workplace of men, spheres that were increasingly separated with industrialization, urbanization, and material progress in the 19th century.
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Mckillop, H. Recognizing children’s graves in nineteenth-century cemeteries: Excavations in St. Thomas Anglican Churchyard, Belleville, Ontario, Canada. Hist Arch 29, 77–99 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03373582
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03373582