MORTUARY ARCHEOLOGY OF A 19TH -20TH CENTURY FAMILY TOMB IN NEW BERN, NORTH CAROLINA

Abstract

The excavation and study of 19th and 20th century cemeteries in North America have not only illuminated shifts in mortuary behavior but also highlighted the lives of those invisible in the documentary sources, particularly women and children. However, unlike neighboring regions to the north and south, very few archaeological explorations of 19th and 20th century cemeteries in eastern North Carolina exist. A gradual picture of life in eastern North Carolina is emerging through explorations of family vaults and cemeteries, largely initiated by their descendants. In 2019, the Anthropology department at East Carolina University was asked by descendants of the Rhem family in New Bern to clear the ca. 1853 above-ground structure in preparation for restoration. This created the opportunity to study the material evidence for 19th and 20th century burial practices as well as the human remains within the vault during the 2021 field season. This thesis dated the commingled coffin hardware from the Rhem Vault using hardware trade catalogs and comparative excavations to detail the use history of the Rhem Vault and aid in identifying the burials within the vault. The coffin hardware from the commingled deposits acts as evidence for mortuary behavior during a rapidly changing period of funerary history in the U.S. in order to document how these trends were practiced within eastern North Carolina.