Physical Anthropology and Archaeological Investigations of The Nancy Creek Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery, Dekalb County

This report presents the results of investigation of 56 nineteenth and twentieth century graves within the Nancy Creek Primitive Baptist Church cemetery, which is located near Atlanta, Georgia. Three categories of graves were explored. Sixteen graves either bore markers or had been identified to individual through geneaological research. The physical anthropology and archaeological team observed the removal of those graves and made notes and scaled drawing of selected contents. The second category consisted of graves with poorly preserved physical remains that could not be identified by individual. Those graves (31) were explored through a two hour field effort, and all feasible data sets were recorded. The third category of graves were those with moderately well preserved physical remains that could not be identified to individual. Those graves (9) were explored employing archaeological techniques and the contents were analysed following the field phase. The primary research considerations dealt with obtaining physical data from the skeletal material within the graves. The state of preservation of the' bones was disappointing, as few moderately well preserved skeletal elements were preserved. Data were collected, despite the generally poor state of preservation, that can be used for comparisons with other nineteenth and twentieth century white populations from the Atlanta area. A major contribution of this project proved to be data collected on changes in coffin hardware types through time. Study of the collections and correlations of interment dates indicated that bail type coffin handles were used from the 1870s to around 1900, when short bar type handles became popular. Short bar type handles were found in one grave that dated as late as 1979, and the popularity of this handle form appears to have spanned the twentieth century to the present within that cemetery.