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For 18 years, from 1984 to 1998, the Vietnam crypt of the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery housed the remains of a soldier whose anonymity helped shoulder a nation's grief and fuel its memory. They were those of First Lieutenant Michael J. Blassie, an Air Force pilot shot down over hostile territory in southern Vietnam in 1972. On 14 May 1998, Blassie's then-unrecognized remains became the only set at the memorial to be disinterred and identified - an act that signaled an important shift in forensic practice and the state's means of commemorating its missing and unknown members of the military. Tracing the story of the Vietnam Unknown's (de)identification, this article examines the gradual though foundational reframing of the connection between national memory and identity expressed through care for those who 'made the ultimate sacrifice'. Whereas memorials of the past, such as the Tomb of the Unknowns, emphasized collective or anonymous groupings of war dead in articulating national identity, the changing technology of identification, particularly brought about by advances in DNA testing, has enabled individuated memorializing. Naming each dead soldier, returning each set of remains to surviving families, no matter how partial or delayed, personalizes the ideals of sacrifice and honor embodied in the fallen soldier and invites localized, communal remembrance. The shifts in technology and memory that have rewritten the story of the Vietnam Unknown not only altered modes of national commemoration, but also lay bare the connections between how war itself is waged, death justified, and a nation defined through its care for war dead.

For 18 years, from 1984 to 1998, the Vietnam crypt of the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery housed the remains of a soldier whose anonymity helped shoulder a nation's grief and fuel its memory. They were those of First Lieutenant Michael J. Blassie, an Air Force pilot shot down over hostile territory in southern Vietnam in 1972. On 14 May 1998, Blassie's then-unrecognized remains became the only set at the memorial to be disinterred and identified - an act that signaled an important shift in forensic practice and the state's means of commemorating its missing and unknown members of the military. Tracing the story of the Vietnam Unknown's (de)identification, this article examines the gradual though foundational reframing of the connection between national memory and identity expressed through care for those who 'made the ultimate sacrifice'. Whereas memorials of the past, such as the Tomb of the Unknowns, emphasized collective or anonymous groupings of war dead in articulating national identity, the changing technology of identification, particularly brought about by advances in DNA testing, has enabled individuated memorializing. Naming each dead soldier, returning each set of remains to surviving families, no matter how partial or delayed, personalizes the ideals of sacrifice and honor embodied in the fallen soldier and invites localized, communal remembrance. The shifts in technology and memory that have rewritten the story of the Vietnam Unknown not only altered modes of national commemoration, but also lay bare the connections between how war itself is waged, death justified, and a nation defined through its care for war dead.

This article chronicles a movement to restore Shippensburg, Pennsylvania's Locust Grove Cemetery, a historic African-American burial ground. The cemetery faced persistent troubles exacerbated by changing demographics in the surrounding neighborhood, its caretakers' limited resources, and the community's history of racial discrimination. Beginning in 2003, Shippensburg University applied history students assisted with research, grant writing, and interpretative materials. By 2005, a community coalition formed that built on the students' efforts, ultimately mobilizing the resources needed to finish the restoration. This case study illustrates the complex dynamics of a community preservation campaign and ways Public History programs can support such efforts.

This article chronicles a movement to restore Shippensburg, Pennsylvania's Locust Grove Cemetery, a historic African-American burial ground. The cemetery faced persistent troubles exacerbated by changing demographics in the surrounding neighborhood, its caretakers' limited resources, and the community's history of racial discrimination. Beginning in 2003, Shippensburg University applied history students assisted with research, grant writing, and interpretative materials. By 2005, a community coalition formed that built on the students' efforts, ultimately mobilizing the resources needed to finish the restoration. This case study illustrates the complex dynamics of a community preservation campaign and ways Public History programs can support such efforts.

Managers of local government cemeteries should balance social and cultural expectations with fiscal responsibility and when they do so they demonstrate death competence in cemetery management. This study reviews the cultural and social equity aspects of the consumption of cemetery services and develops tools to take into account social equity and cultural concerns for public sector cemetery managers. Cemetery demand and pricing models are developed and applied to the case of Austin, Texas. These models enhance the estimation of demand by taking into account cultural factors and contextualize pricing in terms of social equity concerns.

Managers of local government cemeteries should balance social and cultural expectations with fiscal responsibility and when they do so they demonstrate death competence in cemetery management. This study reviews the cultural and social equity aspects of the consumption of cemetery services and develops tools to take into account social equity and cultural concerns for public sector cemetery managers. Cemetery demand and pricing models are developed and applied to the case of Austin, Texas. These models enhance the estimation of demand by taking into account cultural factors and contextualize pricing in terms of social equity concerns.

On a hot afternoon in July 2012, Giuseppe Vercellotti was digging up bones near the wall of an abandoned medieval church here, thinking about getting a cold drink, when he heard his students call his name. Faces glistening with sweat, they told him that they had found something strange buried half a meter down. Vercellotti took a look and saw a layer of lime, used in ancient times to squelch the stench of rotting corpses. When he tapped the hard layer with his trowel, it sounded hollow. "We immediately thought it was a mass grave," says Vercellotti, a biological anthropologist at Ohio State University, Columbus, who co-leads a field school here. "We instructors were all excited and hopeful."

On a hot afternoon in July 2012, Giuseppe Vercellotti was digging up bones near the wall of an abandoned medieval church here, thinking about getting a cold drink, when he heard his students call his name. Faces glistening with sweat, they told him that they had found something strange buried half a meter down. Vercellotti took a look and saw a layer of lime, used in ancient times to squelch the stench of rotting corpses. When he tapped the hard layer with his trowel, it sounded hollow. "We immediately thought it was a mass grave," says Vercellotti, a biological anthropologist at Ohio State University, Columbus, who co-leads a field school here. "We instructors were all excited and hopeful."

FOR THE PAST SIXTEEN YEARS, the Alabama Historical Commission (AHC), the Alabama Trust for Historic Preservation (ATHP), and Alabama Heritage magazine have joined forces to publicize historic places endangered by neglect, lack of funds, or demolition. This year's Places in Peril highlights ten significant properties dating from the late 1840s to the late 1940s, including a "modern" apartment complex, a theater, a railroad depot, a church and community center, a hardware store, a collection of citywide schools, a slave cemetery, a historic district, an entire community, and an antebellum house. Inspired by the National Trust for Historic Preservation's America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places list, Places in Peril generates awareness of the threats facing Alabama's important historic resources.

FOR THE PAST SIXTEEN YEARS, the Alabama Historical Commission (AHC), the Alabama Trust for Historic Preservation (ATHP), and Alabama Heritage magazine have joined forces to publicize historic places endangered by neglect, lack of funds, or demolition. This year's Places in Peril highlights ten significant properties dating from the late 1840s to the late 1940s, including a "modern" apartment complex, a theater, a railroad depot, a church and community center, a hardware store, a collection of citywide schools, a slave cemetery, a historic district, an entire community, and an antebellum house. Inspired by the National Trust for Historic Preservation's America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places list, Places in Peril generates awareness of the threats facing Alabama's important historic resources.

his paper examines the concept of commemoration as an expression of social memory and its relationship to time and space as manifested through the mortuary evidence from Modern Greek cemeteries. Of particular interest is the act of commemoration itself: who remembers whom and the length of time that this type of memory endures. Based on evidence collected from a number of different cemeteries in northern Kythera and the eastern Corinthia, I argue that memory at the nuclear family level determines the length of time a grave is remembered as a physical location. Once this memory ceases to exist, the grave gradually enters a process of neglect, which ultimately leads to its abandonment. Some abandoned graves are recycled for use by other families who, in the absence of any recollection or memory of the grave, remove and destroy the old monuments (if they exist) and the remains of the previous occupants. Particular burial spaces are, thus, reclaimed by new groups.

his paper examines the concept of commemoration as an expression of social memory and its relationship to time and space as manifested through the mortuary evidence from Modern Greek cemeteries. Of particular interest is the act of commemoration itself: who remembers whom and the length of time that this type of memory endures. Based on evidence collected from a number of different cemeteries in northern Kythera and the eastern Corinthia, I argue that memory at the nuclear family level determines the length of time a grave is remembered as a physical location. Once this memory ceases to exist, the grave gradually enters a process of neglect, which ultimately leads to its abandonment. Some abandoned graves are recycled for use by other families who, in the absence of any recollection or memory of the grave, remove and destroy the old monuments (if they exist) and the remains of the previous occupants. Particular burial spaces are, thus, reclaimed by new groups.

Responsibility of care in VA

A look into the process of mourning in U.S society, can be used in my paper

A look into the process of mourning in U.S society, can be used in my paper

Article that talks about the future of cemeteries.

The reported absence of distinguishing features upon British Gypsy-Traveller memorials has been used to support the widely accepted, and influential, argument that dead people are not the focus of social continuity within Gypsy-Traveller society. However, based upon cemetery surveys and interviews with members of the Gypsy-Traveller community in Sheffield, England, this paper demonstrates that explicit displays of ethnicity are now common upon memorials, and describes their characteristics. The reasons behind this apparent shift in mortuary practices are discussed in relation to wider socio-political factors. Based upon these findings, we argue for a reconsideration of the relationship between living and dead people within British Gypsy-Traveller society, and a recognition of the importance of commemoration in the negotiation of identity and social reproduction within these communities.

The reported absence of distinguishing features upon British Gypsy-Traveller memorials has been used to support the widely accepted, and influential, argument that dead people are not the focus of social continuity within Gypsy-Traveller society. However, based upon cemetery surveys and interviews with members of the Gypsy-Traveller community in Sheffield, England, this paper demonstrates that explicit displays of ethnicity are now common upon memorials, and describes their characteristics. The reasons behind this apparent shift in mortuary practices are discussed in relation to wider socio-political factors. Based upon these findings, we argue for a reconsideration of the relationship between living and dead people within British Gypsy-Traveller society, and a recognition of the importance of commemoration in the negotiation of identity and social reproduction within these communities.

The signal of a major demographic change characterized by a relatively abrupt increase in the proportion of immature skeletons has been detected in a paleoanthropological database of 38 MesolithicNeolithic cemeteries from Europe and North Africa. From the Mesolithic to the Neolithic, the proportion of immature skeletons increases by 2030% over a period of 500700 years, indicating a notable increase in the crude birth rate. This shift has been called the Neolithic demographic transition. A similar signal has been detected in an independent set of archaeological data, namely, enclosures. This paper presents results from a sample of 62 cemeteries in North America (7,755 BP350 BP) that point to the same transition over a period of 600800 years.

The signal of a major demographic change characterized by a relatively abrupt increase in the proportion of immature skeletons has been detected in a paleoanthropological database of 38 MesolithicNeolithic cemeteries from Europe and North Africa. From the Mesolithic to the Neolithic, the proportion of immature skeletons increases by 2030% over a period of 500700 years, indicating a notable increase in the crude birth rate. This shift has been called the Neolithic demographic transition. A similar signal has been detected in an independent set of archaeological data, namely, enclosures. This paper presents results from a sample of 62 cemeteries in North America (7,755 BP350 BP) that point to the same transition over a period of 600800 years.