Introduction
The African Burial Ground project commenced in 1991 under the funding of the General Services Agency (GSA). This occurred when the employees with an assignment of commissioning an excavation meant for a new structure (federal office building) exposed the skeletal remains of the first of the more than 400 children, men and women. Another study established that there was the mass burying of enslaved Africans (in the the17th and 18th centuries) in lower Manhattan and this took place in a piece of land sized 6.6 acres. The cemetery remained covered with landfills over the decades (Hansen & McGowan, 1998).
Through the proper management of the General Service Agency, this project has emerged as a clear testimony of both the positive as well as the collaborative partnership witnessed between the diverse parties that were involved including the African American community, Howard University among others.
Currently, the site is a national monument that features a unique memorial that commemorates and communicates the story behind African Burial Ground which is the only historic urban archeological project that has been undertaken in the US. The site has continued to attract many people who seek to dig the history attached to this national monument (Hansen & McGowan, 1998).
DNA research
This was carried out by combining DNA with the available historical data, the morphology as well as the cranial metrics in an effort of establishing the true origin of these people. In order to carry out research that was more accurate and approximate, the need to apply more comparative data particularly from Central Africa was inevitable. Though the study had limited funds the researchers managed to move forward with the DNA pilot study. The analysis that was done was more sophisticated as compared to those done in a similar bio-archeological research situation. More stories concerning Africans were told a thing that was very instrumental in the restoring of the cemetery into a sacred field (Kris, 2005).
Number of people who worked on the project
Researchers have never agreed on the actual number of employees who worked on this project. It is approximated that there could have been 70-80 people that worked in the Howard Skeletal Biology lab at one time or the other and the part-time students that participated actively in the project. There were also those people who did the excavation at the site. The project took in many undergraduate or graduates, who worked on the Burial Ground, some have finished their Ph. Ds while holding positions in this project with others compiling reports on the same project. The researchers who started at the undergraduate level or the graduate level had the responsibilities of doing the technical tasks like piecing bone fragments together and later on were involved in writing statistics. Some of the students decided to pursue African-American archeology due to the exposure they had at the burial ground (Hansen & McGowan, 1998).
Unique study cases
There were unique cases in a study like the 101s case that was believed to be a man who should have been between 26 and 35 years of age with the skull shape suggesting that he could have been from West Africa. But there was a contradiction in his chemical data. Strontium was one of the examined chemicals with the results directing to an African birth. Also, the researchers found Lead to be somewhere between New York City in the United States and West Africa (i.e. it was not clear whether 101 was really from West Africa or New York). This made it very difficult to ascertain the place where 101 had been raised as a child. The treponemal disease was also evident, implying that 101 had lived in dangers of deadly tropical diseases. 101 must have been a very hardworking man, a thing that was evidenced by some healed fractures (in the spine). Further evidence revealed that 101 had the most delicate and pleasingly filed teeth. Close-up and magnified photos indicated that the filing of teeth was deliberately done (Leech, 2008).
The lid of the coffin containing the remains of 101 had the shape of a heart, an important symbol to the populace. It was discovered after an investigation that it was a version of a symbol called sankata. The sankata symbol is thought to be very perfect and resonates with the African Burial Ground. According to the interpretation from various researchers, the symbol was based on the idea that one needs to take a step of searching the past and ensuring that the past becomes a guide to him/her. This translates that the symbol made a connection between the present and the past. The African Burial Ground has played an instrumental role in spreading knowledge regarding the symbol (Leech, 2008).
Addressing human rights
There has been a discussion at the UN about people having the right to get certain information. The descendants of the slaves who are in different parts of the world have the right to know about the condition that their ancestors went through, and this helps in making sure that the miseries that they went through are not repeated. The project was very important in digging and exposing the truth. Through the study, the researchers involved got the understanding that history carries the political insinuation of both empowering as well as disempowering. This is in line with the theory that in addition to discovering, history should be re-discovered and should always remain subject to change. This confirms that African-American history has been greatly altered. Some omissions have always been made (on the African-American history) aimed at establishing as well as painting a positive image to that identity of the white and the national view in general. Through the application of skeletal biology and archeology, the project’s target was in unearthing useful information believed to have been out of reach for the population. This touches on the people involved in the struggle. The study made the researchers find themselves intermingling with a community that had a desire of knowing things that had been hidden from them, on how their people were buried and about whom they were and what the society was before (Frohne, 2001).
Emotional effect
There were a lot of emotions at the Burial Ground when people learned of the high childhood mortality rates that had to take place as the research from the site had revealed. This brought the realization that something is compelling about human remains, that they are disturbing to many people. There was also the realization from the 3 studies that science in the right context gives the public a chance of getting close to these people. The remains stirred different feelings in the people (Leech, 2008).
Work Cited
Adam Leech, More Bodies Unearthed at African Burying Ground 2008. Web.
Advisory council on Historic Preservation. Preserve America Presidential Awards; African Burial Ground Project, 2008. New York: Schomburg. Web.
Andrea E. Frohne. African Burial Ground: Encyclopedia of New York State. 2001, New York: Yale University Press. Web.
Baker D. African Burial Ground Research Bibliography, New York: OPEI. Web.
Elizabeth Brumfiel. The Archaeology of Ethnicity in America: African Burial Ground New York: Indiana University Bloomington, 2003. Web.
Joyce Hansen & Gary McGowan. Breaking Ground Breaking Silence: the Story of New York’s African Burial Ground New York: Birnbaum, 1998. Web.
Kris H. African Burial Ground Memorial 2005, a part of The New York Times Company. Web.
Marilyn Anderson. Under City Hall Park, New York: Archaeological Institute of America. 2000. Web.