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WHERE THE CHILDREN LIE: A DEMOGRAPHIC AND SPATIAL ANALYSIS OF TWO SANTA ROSA COUNTY CEMETERIES

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Date Issued:
2015
Abstract/Description:
Carnley is a small, rural, family cemetery near Chumuckla in Santa Rosa County, Florida (site #8SR844) that was in use from the late 1884 to the early 1936. At Carnley cemetery, fifty percent of the identified graves are juveniles between the ages of 0 and 5 years. A number of explanations are possible for this high percentage of child burials. In this paper, I test the hypothesis that children were buried more frequently in family cemeteries than in community cemeteries, possibly due to social concepts of childhood and child mortality, and that creating a burial ground for children was one of the primary roles of the family cemetery during this time period. In order to test this hypothesis, I compare the mortality structures of Carnley Cemetery to that of a contemporaneous community cemetery, and use Fisher's Exact Test to measure the statistical significance of the differences in ages 0 to 5 mortality rates between the cemeteries. I then create GIS maps of the two cemeteries to analyze the spatial structure of these cemeteries in order to detect patterns in burial location that would indicate age-based mortuary choices.
Title: WHERE THE CHILDREN LIE: A DEMOGRAPHIC AND SPATIAL ANALYSIS OF TWO SANTA ROSA COUNTY CEMETERIES.
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Name(s): Hawley, Allison Corinne, Author
Killgrove, Kristina, Committee Chair
Philen, Robert C., Committee Member
Stringfield, Margo S., Committee Member
University of West Florida, Degree Grantor
Type of Resource: text
Date Issued: 2015
Publisher: University of West Florida
Language(s): English
Abstract/Description: Carnley is a small, rural, family cemetery near Chumuckla in Santa Rosa County, Florida (site #8SR844) that was in use from the late 1884 to the early 1936. At Carnley cemetery, fifty percent of the identified graves are juveniles between the ages of 0 and 5 years. A number of explanations are possible for this high percentage of child burials. In this paper, I test the hypothesis that children were buried more frequently in family cemeteries than in community cemeteries, possibly due to social concepts of childhood and child mortality, and that creating a burial ground for children was one of the primary roles of the family cemetery during this time period. In order to test this hypothesis, I compare the mortality structures of Carnley Cemetery to that of a contemporaneous community cemetery, and use Fisher's Exact Test to measure the statistical significance of the differences in ages 0 to 5 mortality rates between the cemeteries. I then create GIS maps of the two cemeteries to analyze the spatial structure of these cemeteries in order to detect patterns in burial location that would indicate age-based mortuary choices.
Identifier: WFE0000494 (IID), uwf:61073 (fedora)
Note(s): 2015-06-01
M.A.
Department of Anthropology
Masters
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/uwf/fd/WFE0000494
Restrictions on Access: public
Host Institution: UWF

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