Anthropology A103
Seriation exercise

Based on the marker data presented in the data table, answer the following questions.  Be as detailed as possible, especially when you are explaining how you reached your conclusions based on your tentative relative chronology.  If you need to review the terms used in the questions, go back to the marker description page.

1.  Which of the following markers came earliest:  Marker 3 or Marker 17?  What specifically about size, color, and style allowed you to reach this conclusion?

2. Which of the following two colors was produced first:  grey or red?  What markers support this conclusion?

3. Place the following five stones in relative order from oldest to most recent:  Marker 9,  Marker 24, Marker 31, and Marker 15.  Explain how you determined this relative chronology.

4. During which of the following periods was Marker 27 produced:  1865-1900, 1915-1935, 1950-1965, or 1970-1990?  How did you arrive at this conclusion?

5. What is the most common shape among the earliest 25 markers? 

6. Place the following marker shapes in relative order, from earliest to most recent:  above-ground, geometric, in-ground, symbolic, and monumental.  How did you arrive at this conclusion?

7. Identify an innovator, an individual marker (not a shape) in the sample of 49 whose style is completely novel.  How is this stone distinctive from styles made at about the same time?  Cite some examples of markers that you believe were made at about the same time.

8. Which of the following four shapes is the most common marker shape in this sample since 1910:  in ground, monumental, or above ground?

9. Identify one individual marker among the 49 markers that reflects the deceased's wealth.  How does this marker show you class identity?

10. Identify a marker that reflects the deceased's ethnicity; in this case, how the deceased viewed their national origins, faith, and/or racial identity.  How does this marker show you ethnic identity?

If you have any questions, email me at paulmull@iupui.edu

For more neat grave markers, visit the web page find-a-grave, which has an extensive collection of famous, infamous, and ordinary folks' markers.

Chicago's cemeteries include similar markers to those at Crown Hill, and some truly unique markers that can be visited at Graveyards of Chicago.

Last updated November 11 2016