Dataset Information

"The dead shall be raised": Multidisciplinary analysis of human skeletons reveals complexity in 19th century immigrant socioeconomic history and identity in New Haven, Connecticut.

ABSTRACT: In July 2011, renovations to Yale-New Haven Hospital inadvertently exposed the cemetery of Christ Church, New Haven, Connecticut's first Catholic cemetery. While this cemetery was active between 1833 and 1851, both the church and its cemetery disappeared from public records, making the discovery serendipitous. Four relatively well-preserved adult skeletons were recovered with few artifacts. All four individuals show indicators of manual labor, health and disease stressors, and dental health issues. Two show indicators of trauma, with the possibility of judicial hanging in one individual. Musculoskeletal markings are consistent with physical stress, and two individuals have arthritic indicators of repetitive movement/specialized activities. Radiographic analyses show osteopenia, healed trauma, and other pathologies in several individuals. Dental calculus analysis did not identify any tuberculosis indicators, despite osteological markers. Isotopic analyses of teeth indicate that all four were likely recent immigrants to the Northeastern United States. Nuclear and mitochondrial DNA were recovered from three individuals, and these analyses identified ancestry, hair/eye color, and relatedness. Genetic and isotopic results upended our initial ancestry assessment based on burial context alone. These individuals provide biocultural evidence of New Haven's Industrial Revolution and the plasticity of ethnic and religious identity in the immigrant experience. Their recovery and the multifaceted analyses described here illuminate a previously undescribed part of the city's rich history. The collective expertise of biological, geochemical, archaeological, and historical researchers interprets socioeconomic and cultural identity better than any one could alone. Our combined efforts changed our initial assumptions of a poor urban Catholic cemetery's membership, and provide a template for future discoveries and analyses.

SUBMITTER: Aronsen GP

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6733446 | biostudies-other | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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"The dead shall be raised": Multidisciplinary analysis of human skeletons reveals complexity in 19th century immigrant socioeconomic history and identity in New Haven, Connecticut.

Aronsen Gary P GP Fehren-Schmitz Lars L Krigbaum John J Kamenov George D GD Conlogue Gerald J GJ Warinner Christina C Ozga Andrew T AT Sankaranarayanan Krithivasan K Griego Anthony A DeLuca Daniel W DW Eckels Howard T HT Byczkiewicz Romuald K RK Grgurich Tania T Pelletier Natalie A NA Brownlee Sarah A SA Marichal Ana A Williamson Kylie K Tonoike Yukiko Y Bellantoni Nicholas F NF

PloS one 20190909 9

In July 2011, renovations to Yale-New Haven Hospital inadvertently exposed the cemetery of Christ Church, New Haven, Connecticut's first Catholic cemetery. While this cemetery was active between 1833 and 1851, both the church and its cemetery disappeared from public records, making the discovery serendipitous. Four relatively well-preserved adult skeletons were recovered with few artifacts. All four individuals show indicators of manual labor, health and disease stressors, and dental health issu ...[more]

PMID: 31498793

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Project description:As a reaction to widespread poverty, a system of coercive welfare developed in Switzerland during the 19th century. Poverty was often thought to result from an individual's misconduct rather than from structural, economic or political circumstances. People whose lifestyle deviated from the desired norm or who were unable to make a living for themselves were subjected to so-called administrative detention at institutions such as workhouses and poorhouses. The excavation of the cemetery of the correctional facility/workhouse and asylum «Realta» in Cazis offered the opportunity to gain insight into the living conditions of a marginalized group of people and to shed light on aspects of coercive welfare that have hardly been addressed in historical studies. A comprehensive study of pathological alterations was used to assess possible physical causes and effects of administrative detention. Skeletal samples from regular contemporaneous cemeteries provided data for the general population and thus allowed us to detect peculiarities in the «Realta» assemblage. Possible cases of Stickler Syndrome, microcephaly, congenital syphilis, endemic hypothyroidism and disabilities secondary to trauma may have been the reason for the affected individuals' institutionalisation. The high prevalence of tuberculosis was linked to the socioeconomic status and the living conditions at the facility. Several cases of scurvy and osteomalacia may have resulted from various risk factors such as poverty, alcoholism, mental illness or institutionalisation. The fracture rates, especially of ribs, were extremely high. A large proportion of the fractures were incompletely healed and most likely occurred during detention due to interpersonal violence. Underlying diseases further contributed to the high fracture rates. This first study on skeletons from an institution of administrative detention in Switzerland demonstrated how pre-existing health conditions and the socioeconomic background contributed to the chance of being detained, and how detention led to further deterioration of health.

Dataset Information

"The dead shall be raised": Multidisciplinary analysis of human skeletons reveals complexity in 19th century immigrant socioeconomic history and identity in New Haven, Connecticut.

Publications

"The dead shall be raised": Multidisciplinary analysis of human skeletons reveals complexity in 19th century immigrant socioeconomic history and identity in New Haven, Connecticut.

Similar Datasets

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