catherine r. jones university of wisconsin-milwaukee 80 th annual meeting of the society for...
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Mixed Burials and CommingledHuman Remains Recovered fromthe Milwaukee County InstitutionGrounds Poor Farm Cemetery
Catherine R. JonesUniversity of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
80th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, San Francisco, 15-19 April 2015.
Symposium: People that no one had use for, had nothing to give to, no place to offer: The Milwaukee County Institution Grounds Poor Farm Cemetery
Wisconsin Historical Society, Unknown, Frontispiece to Flower’s “History of Milwaukee,” (Chicago, 1881), Image 105345. Viewed online at http://tinyurl.com/nyqcwf.f
…the Superintendent shall immediately notify relatives
or friends of the deceased, if their residence be known;
if not, the supervisor of the ward of the town in which the
deceased was a resident shall be notified. If claimed by
friends or relatives, the body shall be delivered to them;
if not, the Superintendent shall cause the same to be
decently buried in the County Farm Cemetery, in a
grave not less than six feet in depth…”
-Rule 16, Rules and Regulations for theGovernment of City Poor Department, CountyHospital, County Alms House, County Wood Yard and District Physicians, Milwaukee Co., Wis.
1991/92 Excavation
2013 Excavation
Terminology forMixed Burial Analysis
Individual: a burial lot containing 50% or more of one human skeleton; these can be differentiated by Primary, Secondary, etc.
Commingled: a burial lot containing the remains of more than one individual and not more than 50% of any one Individual
Mixed burial: a single geographic deposit (i.e. a grave) containing the remains of more than one Individual or Commingled lot
10910
10733 10909&
Lots 10733 / 10909 / 10910are part of a Mixed burial
Lots 10733 and 10909are Individuals
Lot 10910Is Commingled remains
Mixed Burial Excavation Procedure
• Identify as Mixed
• Maintain all
articulations and
Individual
associations
• Pedestal remains
and photograph
• Remove in reverse
• Transport to lab
for analysis
Mixed Burial Excavation
Lots 10219 / 10515initial pedestaling
Lot 10219 after removal of Lot 10515
Analytical Methods Separate Individuals Sort miscellaneous bone Picture-match the remains Determine element
representation Refit fragments Pair-matching Articulation Osteometric Comparison Pathology
Identify Element Sets Inventory and biological
profile for Individual and Commingled lots
Determine MNI
Mixed 13 (14.9%) 61 (70%) 13 (14.9%)
Single 54 (18.4%) 198 (67%) 42 (14.3%)
Total: 67 259 55
Mixed 9 10 40 15 22
Single 256 32 131 66 65
Total: 284 42 171 81 87
Juvenile* Young Adult
Middle Adult
Old Adult Indt. Adult0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Age
*Juvenile total population of 284 includes 19 individuals from mixed juvenile contexts
Female Male Indeterminate0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Sex
Distribution of Mixed vs. Single Burials in the 2013 Excavation Sample
Osteoarchaeological Profilesof Post-mortem Intervention
Osteoarchaeological Profilesof Post-mortem Intervention
Craniotomy
Severing cuts to ribs
Oblique cuts to multiple concurrent vertebrae
Buried articulated in hexagonal coffins
Autopsy
Craniotomied skull of Lot 10657
Osteoarchaeological Profilesof Post-mortem Intervention
Cross-section cuts to the post-cranial skeleton, especially clavicles
Non-craniotomy cuts to the cranium
Buried informally in rectangular or hexagonal coffins
Cadaver
Cut clavicles and pelvis of Lot 11038
Locations Lots
Autopsy 49 51
Cadaver 54 93
Both 3 6
Locations Lots
Autopsy 49 51
Cadaver 54 93
Both 3 6
Locations
Mixed Burials 65
Category Definition N1 Primary Individual + 1 Secondary Individual 132 Primary Individual + 2 Secondary Individuals 23 Primary Individual + 3 Secondary Individuals 04 Primary Individual + Commingled Remains 145 Primary Individual + 1 Secondary Individual + Commingled Remains 226 Primary Individual + 2 Secondary Individuals + Commingled Remains 27 Commingled Remains 12 TOTAL: 65
Lots 10097 / 10137 Lots 10664 / 11054
Category 4Individual +
Commingled Remains
Lots 10809 / 11031 / 11033
Category 1 Two Individuals
Category 5Two Individuals +
Commingled Remains
Lot 10812 Lot 10410
Category 7 Shoe sole, copper tool,
ceramic tiles, rubber brace, slate fragment, broken glass
Lot 10983
Category 7Perfume and supply bottles,
pipettes, rubber, broken glass, grease, cattle forearm
Category 7Metal chain, medicine bottles,
copper screw, pipette, bandage, wood shavings, glass fragments
Unexcavated area of cemetery continuesunder extant road of hospital complex
2013 MCIG Mixed BurialsCategory N # of Individuals MNI of Cm Lots
1 132 23 04 145 226 27 12
TOTAL: 65
Mixed Burial Distribution
2013 MCIG Mixed BurialsCategory N # of Individuals MNI of Cm Lots
1 13 262 2 63 0 04 14 145 22 446 2 67 12 0
TOTAL: 65 96
Mixed Burial Distribution
2013 MCIG Mixed BurialsCategory N # of Individuals MNI of Cm Lots
1 13 26 02 2 6 03 0 0 04 14 14 375 22 44 726 2 6 37 12 0 50
TOTAL: 65 96 162
Mixed Burial Distribution
2013 MCIG Mixed BurialsCategory N # of Individuals MNI of Cm Lots
1 13 26 02 2 6 03 0 0 04 14 14 375 22 44 726 2 6 37 12 0 50
TOTAL: 65 96 162
The MCIG 2013 Mixed Burials represent a minimum of258 Individuals in 65 coffins
Mixed Burial Distribution
The author would like to thank the following individuals:
Dr. Pat Richards
Shannon Freire
Adrienne Frie
Alexis Jordan
Brennan Kreiman
Daniella Marjanovich
Jessica Skinner
Dr. Katie Zejdlik
Tom Zych
…and the tireless excavation and laboratory crews of the 2013 MCIG excavation
REFERENCES CITED
Adams, Bradley J., and John E. Byrd2006 Resolution of small-scale commingling: A case report from the Vietnam War. Forensic Science International 156(1): 63–69.
Barker, Caroline, Margaret Cox, Ambika Flavel, Joanna Laver, and Louise Loe2008 Mortuary procedures II - Skeletal analysis I: basic procedures and demographic assessment. In The Scientific Investigation of Mass Graves: Towards Protocols and Standard Operating Procedures, edited by Margaret Cox, Ambika Flavel, Ian Hanson, Joanna Laver, and Roland Wessling, pp. 295–382. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Baustian, Kathryn M, Anna J. Osterholtz, and Della Collins Cook2013 Taking Analyses of Commingled Remains into the Future: Challenges and Prospects. In Commingled and Disarticulated Human Remains, edited by Anna J. Osterholtz, Kathryn M Baustian, and Debra L. Martin, pp. 265–274. Springer, New York.
Cheetham, Paul, Margaret Cox, Ambika Flavel, Ian Hanson, Tim Haynie, David Oxlee, and Roland Wessling2008 Search, location, excavation, and recovery. In The Scientific Investigation of Mass Graves: Towards Protocols and Standard Operating Procedures, edited by Margaret Cox, Ambika Flavel, Ian Hanson, Joanna Laver, and Roland Wessling, pp. 183–267. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Komar, Debra A., and Wendy E. Potter2007 Percentage of body recovered and its effect on identification rates and cause and manner of death determination. Journal of Forensic Sciences 52(3): 528–531.
Milwaukee County (Wis.) Board of Supervisors1886 Rules and Regulations for the Government of City Poor Department, County Hospital, County Alms House, County Wood Yard and District Physicians, Milwaukee Co., Wis. USA.
Osterholtz, Anna J., Kathryn M Baustian, and Debra L. Martin2013 Introduction. In Commingled and Disarticulated Human Remains, edited by Anna J. Osterholtz, Kathryn M Baustian, and Debra L. Martin, pp. 1–13. Springer, New York.
Richards, Patricia B.1997 Unknown man No. 198: The archaeology of the Milwaukee County Poor Farm Cemetery. University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.