Artifacts of Mourning

In 2016, construction workers in Philadelphia unexpectedly uncovered a long forgotten burial ground. Archaeologists quickly discovered this was the location of the burial ground of the First Baptist Church of Philadelphia, used as early as 1722. It was thought to have been exhumed and moved in 1859. Months of excavations revealed almost 500 individual burials still remained. This book shares the complex story of the discovery and excavations. It provides backgrounds of the church, Philadelphia, and the religious climate of the time to give context to the thousands of artifacts that were discovered and are presented in their entirety. The numerous coffin handles and plaques link directly back to English production and are embedded with powerful mortuary symbols. Highlighting cultural exchange between colonial America and England, Artifacts of Mourning provides an important record of 18th- and 19th-century funerary culture. AUTHOR: George M. Leader is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at The College of New Jersey. He holds a PhD from University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. His archaeological research and academic publications cover a wide range of time from the Stone Age of Africa to Historical America. 112 colour and b/w illustrations