Thursday, January 17, 2008

Local history -- the graveyards of New York City

The Economist has a wonderful tour of graveyards large and small in some of the boroughs of NYC. You won't regret having a look.

In Ancient History we spend a lot of time figuring out what graves tell us about past cultures. Just two days ago, we in HIST 2055 had a quick look at what may be Philip of Macedon's tomb If you take the same attitude into more recent cemetaries, there is much to learn. Certainly this article will teach most people a little more about New York and American history than they knew before.

It might also lead you to think about the conditions necessary for the preservation of such evidence.

1 comment:

Phil Paine said...

Ah, the Web... it's the Duct Tape of the Mind. This site http://www.findagrave.com/index.html
allows you to find out where the bodies are buried, literally. Only one listing for Uzbekistan, but it provides a photo of Tamerlane's coffin.