SOCIO-ANTHROPOLOGICAL ANALYSIS AND HISTORICAL CONTEXT OF 18TH CENTURY REMAINS EXCAVATED AT THE SITE OF THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH CEMETERY OF PHILADELPHIA
Open Access
Author:
Vagelli, Adriana
Area of Honors:
Letters, Arts, and Sciences (Abington)
Degree:
Bachelor of Science
Document Type:
Thesis
Thesis Supervisors:
Kevin Charles Cannon, Thesis Supervisor Dr. David E Ruth, Thesis Honors Advisor
Keywords:
Bones Archaeology Philadelphia 18th Century
Abstract:
The Arch St. Bones Project is a salvage archeology project that began in 2016 and is run by the College of New Jersey, the Mütter Museum and Rutgers University (Camden). Hundreds of human remains were discovered at a construction site in the Old City section of Philadelphia, the original site belonging to First Baptist Church of Philadelphia Cemetery (1707 – 1860). Only a handful of the unearthed coffins displayed a preserved metal plate carrying the name of the deceased, as well as the date and age at death. This work focused on one of these individuals, Thomas Weir. It was established, with a 97.7% certainty, that this individual was a male, 1.73 m tall, with an age estimation of 23-39 years old at death. Weir was buried in a coffin of hexagonal style that displayed decorative hardware such as a metal inscription plate and handles. Weir’s skeletal remains showed notable osteo-pathology, including laminal spurs on all lower thoracic vertebrae, presence of Schmorl’s nodes on the superior and inferior bodies of select lumbar and thoracic vertebrae, a focal periosteal reaction on the right tibia, and hypoplasia of the enamel in the incisors of the left and right mandible. Extensive analysis of available historical data of 18th century Philadelphia showed that possibly eight individuals named Thomas Weir/Wier were found to have lived, at least for a period of time, in Philadelphia or in its surrounding areas, during a time consistent with the estimated burial date. The results of this work suggest that the studied skeletal remains belong to a Thomas Weir of white race, a middle social class, who died in his 20’s after the 1750’s but before the 1830’s, and who could have fallen victim to the Yellow Fever Epidemic of Philadelphia in 1793.
