Finding Those Once Lost: The Analysis of the Potter's Field at Woodland Cemetery, London, ON

Mortuary archaeology is the archaeological study of death and burial. In North America, the anthropological, cross-cultural, and deep temporal perspectives are employed (cf. Martin et al. 2013a). The myriad ways that societies deal with death are the product of complex and intertwined social, economic, and environmental factors such as class, gender, ethnicity, subsistence practice, and social complexity, to name a few. Therefore, the study of mortuary rituals sheds important light on social complexity and organization. This makes it an excellent topic for an advanced course in a Department of Anthropology. The research described in this report is the result of a group project for an honours level undergraduate and graduate course entitled Anthropology 4493G/9104B; Advanced Special Topics in Anthropology/Advanced Bioarchaeology; Mortuary Archaeology, which was taught in the Winter Semester of 2020.