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Death and Dying in 19th Century Kentucky: Excavating
the Holmes, Vardeman, Stephenson Cemetery, Lincoln County, KY
Presented by: Donald W. Linebaugh, Assistant Professor of
Anthropology and Director, Program for Archaeological Research
University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY |
| The
Holmes, Vardeman,
Stephenson
Cemetery
, a rural
family cemetery that spans
Kentucky
’s early
settlement period to the first quarter of the 20th century, was
excavated in the summer of 2000. The project is sponsored and funded by
the
U.S.
Army Corps of
Engineers,
Lincoln
County Fiscal
Court,
Kentucky
Transportation
Cabinet, and Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources.
Laboratory research has included analysis of the skeletal remains,
textiles, coffin hardware, and coffin wood. In addition, genealogical
and social historical research has been completed, providing important
interpretive data, and a full DNA analysis is almost complete. The data
are being pooled for a biocultural analysis that considers the unique
development of multiple generation of the original Vardeman family and
speaks to the state of life and death in rural
Kentucky
during the
period. Upon completion of the analysis, the cemetery will be fully
restored in a new location. This lecture will highlight the findings of
this fascinating project, the first of its kind in
Kentucky.
http://www.as.uky.edu/Anthropology/
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