18th-century cemetery in South Carolina
Anson Street African Burial Ground is a recently rediscovered historic cemetery and archeological site where enslaved people of African descent were buried in 18th-century Charleston, South Carolina, United States. The burial ground was in use from approximately 1760 to 1790. The graves were uncovered during the 2013 excavation of a trench for the construction of the Galliard Auditorium. Initial impressions were that the bodies had been buried in four closely aligned rows, oriented east to west, all lying near the corner of Anson Street and George Street. Grave goods included British coins, one of which was found in the eye socket of a skull. The remains of a wooden coffin and buttons from what was possibly a boy's coat were also unearthed.
The previously unmarked remains will be the site of a memorial sculpture featuring "a fountain ringed with bronze hands, all modeled from Black residents of similar ages to the 36 people found".
Efforts to identify the origins of the buried people include DNA research, to identify genetic background, as well as isotope mapping, to pinpoint geographic locations for the birthplaces of persons from this and some other sites, as part of an ambitious project to get more insight into the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
References.
 ;templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" / ;