The Non-Adult Cohort from Le Morne Cemetery, Mauritius: A Snap Shot of Early Life and Death after Abolition

Abstract

The cemetery of Le Morne in Mauritius dates from the 1830s and is thought to contain the remains of slaves, freed slaves or potentially free Madagascans, which in itself has economic and social implications and makes the cemetery all the more intriguing. During 2010, excavations recovered the remains of 11 individuals, of which six were children. Although a small sample, the burials of the non‐adults show several interesting features. Two neonates were buried contemporaneously and may have been twins, while a late term foetus in a grave with a young woman may represent an incident of coffin birth. This sample has the potential to cast light on the burial practices of the slave/ex‐slave community in Mauritius, about which little is currently known. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Discarded in the trash: Burials of African enslaved individuals in Valle da Gafaria, Lagos, Portugal (15th–17th centuries)

“…The Valle da Gafaria's osteological collection is extremely important for slavery studies. Not only are there few cemeteries of enslaved people in the world (Cedar Grove cemetery: Martin, Magennis, & Rose, ; South Carolina plantation: Rathbun, ; Pretos Novos in Brazil: Cook, Bastos, Lopes, Mendonça de Souza, & Santos, ; Pereira, ; slave burial population in Barbados: Corruccini, Handler, Mutaw, & Lange, ; Handler, Corruccini, & Mutaw, ; the black slave cemetery from Montserrat, West Indies: Mann, Meadows, Bass, & Watters, ; the cemetery of the “Waterloo” plantation in Suriname: Khudabux, ; the cemetery in Campeche in Mexico: Tiesler, ; Le Morne Cemetery, Mauritius: Appleby et al, ; and the African Burial Ground in the city of New York: Blakey, ), but also, until now, Lagos is the older sample to be discovered and studied in the world.…”

Objects past, objects present: Materials, resistance and memory from the Le Morne Old Cemetery, Mauritius

“…In redressing this imbalance, the site of Le Morne offers an important avenue through which we can gain insight into a range of features relating to a population of slaves / freed slaves. This includes aspects of diet and disease (Appleby et al, 2014), demography (Seetah 2015) and with the present article, material culture and burial practice.…”

A possible case of dystocia due to foetal macrosomia at Shuanghuaishu site (3500–2900 BCE), Henan, China

“…Post mortem extrusion has been proposed in some archaeological cases as one possible explanation for the presence of foetal remains between the legs of a female skeleton, or partially protruding from the pelvic outlet (e.g., Appleby et al, 2014;Chadwick Hawkes & Wells, 1975;Cruz & Codinha, 2010;Rascón Pérez, Cambra-Moo, & González, 2007;Wells, 1975). This raises the possibility of misinter- (e.g., Augias et al, 2015;Halcrow, Tayles, & Elliott, 2018;Lieverse, Bazaliiskii, & Weber, 2015;Sayer & Dickinson, 2013).…”