This prototype database was designed to meet the general needs of users from a range of different backgrounds in relation to cemeteries and graveyards. The scenario is described as follows: A consortium of international archaeological and historical societies has collaborated in funding a multidisciplinary database of international historical graveyards whose history goes back at least 100 years. As the database will be used for research as well as town-planning by a wide variety of people, including historians, local councils, genealogists, sociologists and epidemiologists, it is anticipated that it will include not only information about the graveyards themselves, but also the buildings, individual gravestones and the records of people buried there. [Emphasis added] Key words and phrases (highlighted) were used to determine the appropriate entities and their attributes, and to help determine the kinds of queries that might be useful for key stakeholders. This database will serve a diverse range users, each with different needs. Prior to constructing this database, I created a list of questions that I suspected may have been of interest to a given stakeholder, and then ensured that my database could answer them. I have listed a sample of these questions in Appendix I and have provided relevant queries to demonstrate the usefulness of the database. Entities From the scenario described above, I have determined that the following main entities are the most appropriate for a relational database: cemeteries, burial plots, burial records, monuments, buildings, and inscriptions. Each main entity and its significant attributes will be described below; however, a full list of attributes can be found in the appendix. Cemeteries and graveyards Each cemetery or graveyard will exist in the database as a distinct entity, and all other entities can be traced back to their relevant cemetery. Curl (1999) defines a cemetery as: 'a burial ground, especially a large landscaped park or ground laid out expressly for the deposition or interment of the dead, not being a churchyard attached to a place of worship.' Accordingly, a cemetery is not simply a place containing a dead body or bodies, but a defined location specifically intended to be used for burying the dead. While Curl attempts to distinguish a cemetery from a churchyard, my database takes a broader approach and includes all formal burial places (graveyards in general), including those associated with churchyards, burial mounds, and war memorials. As noted by Rugg (2000), cemeteries also 'provide the ability of users to locate a specific grave .
Vaughan, Joyce. "John (J.W.) "Jack" Hinckley, Sr." Find a Grave. N.p., 31 Jan 2008. Web. 19 Apr
Ever take a midnight train to Georgia? No, well ever drive through Georgia? When driving through Georgia on State Road 49, there is a little town called Andersonville that is very easy to miss. To many it is just another town. Yet this town has its own trail. The Andersonville Trail is a small brown dirt road that leads visitors to the Andersonville National Historic Site (Roberts xi). This National Historic Site looks like a “well- tended” national cemetery. On closer examination, this cemetery is nothing like Arlington (Roberts xi). “In this national cemetery, the marble headstones are so close together, they almost touch. The markers appear to be one long head...
Ironically the burial ground’s discovery came from a land of no significance to prime, for an intended thirty-four-story federal office building. An environmental impact statement set off archeological test excavations, by producing an 18th century map delivering necessity to substantiate or disprove survival of a “Negro’s Burial Ground” (Kutz 1994).
In the midst of one of the busiest cities in the world there lies a sanctuary. There lies an area where all men are equal, where poverty is non-existent, where all men are united under two things; the first being death and the second being America. Arlington National Cemetery is a tribute to all of the fallen heroes, the patriots, the soldiers, the pioneers, all who have cried American tears. I have been forever changed since visiting Arlington National Cemetery and it is a visit that every American should make.
As the birds are singing their sweet melody, the terrain of Arlington National Cemetery is filled with sadness. Although the brilliant rays of sun are shinning through the thick colossal treetops, there is a chill in the air. While watching the mourners, the feeling of their sorrows is all too real.
When someone dies their bones are burned and crushed into ash and consumed by the relatives. It puts a persons soul at peace to find a resting place within their family, it would be an abomination to bury them in the ground. Once this ceremony is finished the person is gone. Their name or person is never to be mentioned again.
The validity of the conclusion could be better with more evidence from different cemeteries around the country. Therefore due to the limitation of evidence it is possible to lead to inaccurate results. It was also difficult to decipher what some of the inscriptions were as the gravestones have been eroded by the weather (figure 5-5.4).
...cestors and past figures of the town. People work incredibly hard on the upkeep and records of the cemetery, which brings a sense of pride and community togetherness. The oldest recorded cemetery in Nebraska certainly is a spectacular landmark to our state.
With a strong 150 year legacy, Crown Hill Cemetery is one of the historical sites in Indiana that reflects upon the heritage of its citizens. This cemetery is the nations third largest non-government cemetery. During the Civil War back in 1863 was the when Crown Hill cemetery was founded. It is a very unique site for its historical context and size. It serves many families in Indiana with funeral homes services and historical backgrounds. If visited you will begin to notice and understand how the cemetery is a great place of reflection and education for thousands of its visitors who attend the cemetery every year. The few words that could describe the atmosphere of Crown Hill would be beautiful, articulate, reverence and peace. No other cite in Indianapolis offers such high level of serenity and great historical architect such as Crown Hill Cemetery.
Klaassens, Mirjam, Peter Groote, and Paulus P. P. Huigen. "Roadside Memorials From A Geographical Perspective." Mortality 14.2 (2009): 187-201. Academic Search Complete. Web. 21 Apr. 2014
At the same time, those reburying the dead would present new goods, many from those not from the moving village, that would be added to the graves. This increase the number of artifacts present, and if someone analyzing these graves did not know that such an event occurred, it may be interpreted that the deceased were of a very high status. Since bones appear sexless to those who aren’t trained to notice it, male and female bodies may be mixed up, depending on how carefully the bodies are moved, meaning that while men and women are only originally buried with their respective sex or with certain goods, reburial may change how the data appears. Along this same path, old burials are likely mixed with new, so trends in how bodies are oriented and the goods they are buried with may be lost with each reburial. Ultimately, it is important to consider each burial within its culture’s specific context before attempting to make any assumptions about mortuary practices. By failing to note how reburials impact the context of a grave, especially mass reburials like the Huron Festival of the Dead, important information about these mortuary practices is lost due to one’s own
For years the burial ground was a forgotten part of American history until it was rediscovered in 1991. The site was then designated as historical landmark and later a national
The burial grounds make the dead come to life, but it has greater powers as
He had no real hope of finding the cemetery today, but he could at least scout the area for the most favorable place to start a search. Still, he didn't want to chance missing something. With a stick he fashioned into a staff, he probed the ground for any remnants of a burial site. Vines growing thick enough to hide a fence, piles of rocks that resembled grave markers, or even rocks that looked like broken headstones. Nate investigated them all.
As portrayed above, poverty is the misery of life. “No gravestone, no name, no identifying mark of any kind. The burying-ground is merely a huge waste of hummocky earth, like a derelict building-lo...