Not all studies designed to understand the shared behavior of people of the past focus on traditional kinds of archaeological material remains. Cemeteries hold many clues to past cultural practices. These can be deciphered through various kinds of studies, for instance, of cemetery planning, size and shape of tombstones, text and design elements on headstones, among others.
Through documentation of observable differences and qualitative and quantitative analyses, patterns of social or cultural behavior can be inferred. To illustrate this to K-State archaeology students, Dr. Jerry Moore, visiting professor of archaeology in 1988-1989, engaged students in a study of Sunset Cemetery tombstones as part of the Fall Archaeological Field Methods course. This study involved integrated analysis of a sample of 87 historic tombstones and their different sizes, forms, and designs.
This project was patterned after classic studies by archaeologists James Deetz and Edwin Dethlefsen of tombstone designs in cemeteries in eastern Massachusetts. Through their investigations, Deetz and Dethlefsen identified changes in designs of mortuary monuments through time in colonial America. Those changes were found to reflect evolving perspectives of death and religious beliefs.
Dr. Moore wondered whether tombstones in Sunset Cemetery would also provide clues to social practices and beliefs among the early Euro-American families of Manhattan, Kansas. To explore this question, Dr. Moore and his students learned about the written history of Sunset Cemetery. Then, with that background information, they inspected the layout of the cemetery and studied samples of early headstones in its oldest section.
Written records tell us that Sunset Cemetery is the oldest formal cemetery in Manhattan, Kansas. In 1860, Manhattan acquired 35-acres of land to use as a cemetery. The first burial occurred there in November of that year when the 20 year-old daughter of a Methodist minister and young wife of a local doctor, Mrs. Juliet (Lovejoy) Whitehorn, died of typhoid fever.
As related by Melanie Highsmith of the Riley County Historical Museum, burial plots were platted and made available for purchase three years later. Some years passed before an effort was made to name the graveyard. The new name was to be chosen in 1908 through a contest with a cash award offered by the City of Manhattan and its major newspaper, The Manhattan Mercury. Although Sunset Hill was identified as a popular name, it was not until 1935 that it was officially designated Sunset Cemetery.
In 1917, stone mason Charles Alfred Howell, who also rests at Sunset Cemetery, constructed the Memorial Gateway entrance. Howell was also known for his laying of the brick sidewalks on Moro Street in today's Aggieville and leading construction of the west wing addition to the Agricultural Building at Kansas State Agricultural College. This building is known today as Waters Hall and is home of K-State's Anthropology program!
As the city grew and surrounded Sunset Cemetery, this burial ground also expanded to include 45 acres and 14,000 burials. Today all plots have been sold and the city has built a second cemetery, Sunrise Cemetery, in the western portion of Manhattan.
Inspection of the aerial map above of Manhattan's Sunset Cemetery illustrates how the cemetery grew and planning ideas changed through time. The oldest interments were at the east end in an orderly grid-like pattern (right) near what became the main entrance to the cemetery. Dr. Moore and the archaeology class students sampled tombstones in this area (black squares). The middle section encircles the mausoleum of an important family in the community. The more flowing arrangement of the western portion (left) is the most recent. As suggested in the final study published by Dr. Moore and two K-State students, this layout may have been influenced by the memorial park style of landscaping common in the twentieth century.
To carry out their study, the K-State students made systematic observations of each tombstone in the sampled areas. They documented the form and size, inscriptions, and engraved designs and their placement on each headstone.
With this information (data), the students looked for patterns that correlated with different periods of time (as indicated by the dates engraved on the stones). These were then used to infer shared social practices associated with memorializing the dead and how they changed between 1860 and 1980.
One pattern that was identified was that the height of tombstones diminished over time. Those dating between 1860-1924 were taller on average that those from 1930 until 1988. It was hypothesized that economic challenges from the Great Depression accounted for the initial abrupt decline in height of grave markers at the cemetery.
Functional changes weren't all that was interpreted. Spiritual beliefs and cultural understanding of death were also reflected in these tombstones. The student research found that a steadfast belief in an afterlife was commonly conveyed through the design elements on the gravestones. This was suggested by motifs that include a finger pointing upward, angel statues, and an engraved or structural arch reflecting the idea of a gate to Heaven as in the pictures included in the study below.
This exercise trained students in how to make detailed observations of different attributes of past tangible objects, identify patterns in the data, formulate hypotheses that might explain those, and test those against correlating information (for example, clues in written documents). Work started by this class was publish Dr. Moore and two of the class members as Cherished are the Dead: Changing Social Dimensions in a Kansas Cemetery in the journal Plains Anthropologist (Moore, Blaker, and Smith 1991).
Back Through the Decades: 1980s
