Investigating the Spatial and Statistical Dimensions of Mortuary Choice in the Historical-Period Old City Cemetery in Roslyn, Washington

<p>The historical-period Old City Cemetery in Roslyn, Washington contains individuals from diverse social backgrounds and exhibits considerable variation in mortuary expression. As such, the Old City Cemetery offers a unique opportunity to explore potential differences in social group mortuary practices spatially and statistically. Using burials in Roslyn’s Old City Cemetery, this project developed a methods framework to assess mortuary practice through demographics, burial location, and monument/plot attributes. I tested correlations between demographics and mortuary expression using spatial-statistical cluster analysis (Ripley’s <em>K</em>-Function), spatial density analysis (Kernel Density Estimation), and non-spatial statistical significance assessments (Factor analysis and Pearson’s R), and identified several demographic-based mortuary trends. Similarities in some ages and nationalities were significantly associated with choice in burial location and monument/plot attributes in the Old City Cemetery, suggesting social dynamics in historical-period Roslyn valued these demographic designations. I did not identify any significant trends in choice between similar occupations or causes of death. Cemetery chronology and known decade-based norms appeared partially responsible for burial location siting and choice in monument or plot attributes.</p> <p>This project serves to recommend the viability and importance of incorporating both spatial and statistical dimensions into mortuary analysis of historical-period cemeteries, and I offer that this framework can be applied in such contexts to investigate mortuary expression and social dynamics.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science (MS)

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Cultural and Environmental Resource Management

Year dc:date.available

2020

Author dc:creator

• Hibdon, Sarah Rain

Contributors dc:contributor

• Sterling Quinn
• Robert Hickey
• Nicole Jastremski

• Cemetery
• Roslyn
• GIS
• Spatial Analysis
• Mortuary Analysis
• Archaeological Anthropology
• Genealogy
• Geographic Information Sciences
• Social and Cultural Anthropology
• Spatial Science

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/etd/1355

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.cwu.edu:etd-2379