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Students discovered the history of Chicago's St. Boniface Cemetery 

 and its "residents " through the monuments and tombstones. Here, 

 at the monument for those who died in the Civil War, the late John 

 Niemeyer, cemetery sexton, describes the cemetery's founding in 

 1863. Photo by Nancy Evans. 



better understanding of their own and other 

 cultures. 



Hands-on experience with artifacts, research 

 projects, and field work, together with lectures, 

 make it possible for the students to explore physi- 

 cal and cultural anthropology and archaeology 

 first hand, and give them experience in using 

 anthropological methods. For instance, in the 

 study of physical anthropology, students learn 

 how to determine age, sex, and cause of death by 

 examining skeletal material in the classroom and 

 in museum exhibits. A primate observation study 

 at Lincoln Park Zoo gives them the chance to sim- 

 ulate the work of the primatologist. In the study of 

 cultural anthropology, students discuss how peo- 

 ple are related to one another and how they define 

 their families. A kinship chart is made by each stu- 

 dent of his or her family to understand American 

 kinship structure as well as to understand the rela- 

 tionships between members of their families. The 

 students discover that even in their own culture 

 many differences between families are 

 to be found. 



One of the highlights of the 1985 anthropol- 

 ogy program was the project associated with the 

 unit on archaeology. To acquaint students with 

 fundamental archaeological methods and give 

 them an appreciation of the general process of 

 archaeological research in a relatively short time, 

 a cemetery project was developed under the direc- 

 tion of Donald McVicker, co-author of this essay. 



The cemetery project provided the Science in 

 Action students with a taste of archaeological 

 "field work," in which they gathered preliminary 

 data, then formulated hypotheses on the basis of 

 these data — steps intrinsic to the process of scien- 

 tific research. They learned at the outset that sur- 

 face survey and dating of above-ground artifacts is 

 the initial step in archaeological research. They 

 also learned that before the first shovel of earth is 

 turned, the right questions have to be asked. 



T 



JL he 



he students spent nearly a week investi- 

 gating a Catholic cemetery in Chicago. St. Boni- 

 face Cemetery, on north Clark Street, was selected 

 for the study because it is old (founded 1863), 

 ethnic (German- American), religious, and small 

 enough for the students to become familiar with it 

 in the short time available. As a "residence of the 

 dead," St. Boniface reflects changing fashions in 

 tombstones and monuments, changes in Chicago's 

 ethnic neighborhoods, and the social organization 

 of the Catholics who have buried there. The 

 cemetery sexton, Mr. John Niemeyer (since de- 

 ceased) and his secretary, Ms. Jane Hengl, were 

 most cooperative and generous with their time. 



The students' first acquaintance with the 

 cemetery came at Field Museum, by means of 

 color slides of the site; past research as well as pos- 

 sible future projects were discussed. The students 

 were also introduced to seriation, or style dating, 

 of artifacts. This was followed by a grand tour of 

 St. Boniface, with Mr. Niemeyer as guide. 



Mr. Niemeyer helped the students see how 

 the history of the cemetery and its "residents" 

 could be read in the monuments and how the 

 monuments were distributed. He pointed out two 

 distinctive features that would catch the attention 

 of any archaeologist: first, the entire east end of 

 the cemetery had only flat markers for individual 

 graves, and these surrounded a large statue of St. 

 Joseph; second, in areas other than the east end, 



