Richard Veit, Ph.D., interim provost and senior vice president for academic affairs and professor in the Department of History and Anthropology, recently published “Innovation and Implementation: Critical Reflections on New Approaches to Historic Mortuary Data Collection, Analysis, and Dissemination” (Berghahn Books, 2023). The book was co-edited by Harold Mytum, professor of archaeology at the University of Liverpool.
“This is a timely, well-organized volume that focuses on new and updated approaches toward cemetery studies,” wrote Nancy E. Tatarek, professor at Ohio University, in her review of the book. “The 14 chapters outline different but complimentary methodologies in cemetery studies and their application over a cross section of global locations.”
“Innovation and Implementation” is divided into three parts: documentary research and recording of mortuary landscapes; reflections on memorial recording projects; and archiving and wider dissemination of data and interpretations. Providing a comprehensive set of guidance to assist researchers wishing to carry out, curate, and disseminate field research at a historic burial ground, Veit and Mytum offer up-to-date methods for surface and subsurface survey and for the recording and archiving of burial monument data. Also included is the archaeological potential of pet cemeteries and other pet memorials, and discussions including how methodologies may or may not be applicable to both human and animal subjects.