Purchase Solution

Anthropological differences between the slaves and settlers

Not what you're looking for?

Ask Custom Question

In a cemetery where we find only African American slaves and Anglo settlers, we see that the Anglo settlers eventually moved the graves whereas the slaves were not permitted to move. 200 years later, upon excavation, bodies were discovered and it was learned that the site was a formal cemetery.

1. How would you determine if any of these burials were some of the 'Anglo' settlers still buried in this long lost cemetery?
2. How would you go about carrying out an identification of the sex of the skeletons? What bony parts would be examined most carefully? What standards would you use?
3. What kinds of pathological conditions (e.g., disease, trauma, activity markers) would you expect to see in this sample if they are, in fact, skeletons of enslaved African Americans?
4. What would you expect the mortality profile (i.e., age, sex) of this skeletal sample to look like if it is an exclusively African American slave cemetery?

Purchase this Solution
Solution Summary

This solution is comprised of an explanation of the archaeological and anthropological data necessary to interpret the findings at the African American slaves and Anglo settlers' cemetery. Supplemented with suggested readings and more than 700 words of text, this explanation provides students with an in-depth perspective on how to interpret excavation findings.

Solution Preview

1. How would you determine if any of these burials were some of the 'Anglo' settlers still buried in this long lost cemetery?

The team work of historians, art historians, ethnographers, archaeologists and forensic anthropologists would be able to determine whether the burials belonged to African American slaves or Anglo settlers; the examination of material culture of the slaves, historical information about the area, archaeological stratification and skeletons fragments would be necessary.

One of the archaeological tools used to determine the chronology of findings is the so-called Harris matrix. It is a scheme which shows the chronological succession of archaeological layers and the sequence of their deposition. It just means that the upper layers are younger and the lower are older. Thus, for example, if we know that after certain point of time (depicted in the particular archaeological stratification) Anglo settlers were not buried at this cemetery, we can assume that burials found in the upper parts would belong to the enslaved African American.

The other important factor is the exact information about the context of the cemetery. Who was buried there? What were their professions? The historical data might be helpful to determine the history of the area and its inhabitants. Knowing more about the buried people we are able to find out whether certain grave goods, if any available, were typically used by certain groups. Moreover, the examination of the bones might show us activity markers typical for a certain type of occupation and a group of people.

2. How would you go about carrying out an identification of the sex of the skeletons? What bony parts would be examined most carefully? What standards would you use?

There are some differences between the female and male skeletons. However, all the differences are relative, for example, some women's pelvic might be ...

Purchase this Solution
Free BrainMass Quizzes
Where do humans come from?

This quiz helps identify human origins.

View More Free Quizzes
Related BrainMass Solutions

  • Explorations and mid atlantic slavery

    the discovery that tobacco would grow well there. the resistance of the settlers to the cruelty of the English governors. peaceful relations between the English and the Indians. the resistance to native diseases developed by the settlers.

  • The Development of Jazz Music

    In the 19th century in the city of New Orleans in Louisiana had a population of white settlers, black slaves, and mixed races, most notably the descentdants of French and Spanish settlers and blacks known as Creoles.

  • The Impact of Early Settlers on Natives

    of American settlers taking Native American women and children to be used as servants and or slaves within their colonies, after killing the men in battle.

  • African and Native American Slavery in the British Colonies

    Owners who treated their slaves decently deluded themselves because they provided shelter, food and clothing for the slaves. Other owners abused their slaves because the slaves were like "children" and had to be controlled.

  • Compromise of 1850 to the Missouri Compromise of 1820

    Just as the Missouri Compromise talked about the dividing line and what constituted slaves, there was the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, which also provided for the return of runaway slaves to their masters.

  • Early institutions of British Colonies in America.

    origins of slavery in the American colonies, the problems facing the first colonizers, and the regional differences of colonial life.

  • Abolitionist Movement in Brazil

    Although Africans were among the early settlers it is uncertain what their exact status was - whether free settlers, indentured servants or slaves. Dutch planters from Brazil introduced sugar agriculture and African slaves to Barbados in 1640.

  • Attempts to contain slavery in the Old South

    The background to the issue is that the US was growing westward and there was a delicate balance of power between the non-slave owning states and the slave states, each having representatives in Congress.

  • Indentured servants vs. slaves

    White Cargo: The Forgotten History of Britain's White Slaves in America, 2008. This solution explores the similarities and differences between the lives of indentured servants and slaves in the United States

View More Related Solutions