1. University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Mixed Burials and Commingled Human Remains Recovered from the Milwaukee County Institution Grounds Poor Farm Cemetery
Catherine R. Jones
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Symposium: People that no one had use for, had nothing to give to, no place to offer: The Milwaukee County Institution Grounds Poor Farm Cemetery
80th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, San Francisco, 15-19 April 2015.

2. Wisconsin Historical Society, Unknown, Frontispiece to Flower’s “History of Milwaukee,” (Chicago, 1881), Image Viewed online at

3. …the Superintendent shall immediately notify relatives or friends of the deceased, if their residence be known; if not, the supervisor of the ward of the town in which the deceased was a resident shall be notified. If claimed by friends or relatives, the body shall be delivered to them; if not, the Superintendent shall cause the same to be decently buried in the County Farm Cemetery, in a grave not less than six feet in depth…”
-Rule 16, Rules and Regulations for the
Government of City Poor Department, County
Hospital, County Alms House, County Wood Yard and District Physicians, Milwaukee Co., Wis.

4. 1991/92 Excavation
2013 Excavation

5. Terminology for Mixed Burial Analysis
Individual: a burial lot containing 50% or more of one human skeleton; these can be differentiated by Primary, Secondary, etc.
Commingled: a burial lot containing the remains of more than one individual and not more than 50% of any one Individual
Mixed burial: a single geographic deposit (i.e. a grave) containing the remains of more than one Individual or Commingled lot
10733
10909
&
Lots and 10909
are Individuals
10910
Lot 10910
Is Commingled remains
Lots / / 10910
are part of a Mixed burial

6. Mixed Burial Excavation Procedure
Identify as Mixed
Maintain all articulations and Individual associations
Pedestal remains and photograph
Remove in reverse
Transport to lab for analysis

7. Mixed Burial Excavation
Lots / 10515
initial pedestaling
Lot after removal of Lot 10515

8. Analytical Methods Separate Individuals Sort miscellaneous bone
Picture-match the remains
Determine element representation
Refit fragments
Pair-matching
Articulation
Osteometric Comparison
Pathology
Identify Element Sets
Inventory and biological profile for Individual and Commingled lots
Determine MNI

9. Distribution of Mixed vs. Single Burials in the 2013 Excavation Sample9 10 40 15 22
Single
256 32
131 66 65
Total:
284 42
171 81 87
Mixed
13 (14.9%)
61 (70%)
Single
54 (18.4%)
198 (67%)
42 (14.3%)
Total: 67
259 55
*Juvenile total population of 284 includes 19 individuals from mixed juvenile contexts

10. Osteoarchaeological Profiles of Post-mortem Intervention

11. Osteoarchaeological Profiles of Post-mortem Intervention
Autopsy
Craniotomy
Severing cuts to ribs
Oblique cuts to multiple concurrent vertebrae
Buried articulated in hexagonal coffins
Craniotomied skull of Lot 10657

12. Osteoarchaeological Profiles of Post-mortem Intervention
Cadaver
Cross-section cuts to the post-cranial skeleton, especially clavicles
Non-craniotomy cuts to the cranium
Buried informally in rectangular or hexagonal coffins
Cut clavicles and pelvis of Lot 11038

13. Locations
Lots
Autopsy 49 51
Cadaver 54 93
Both 3 6

14. Locations
Lots
Autopsy 49 51
Cadaver 54 93
Both 3 6

15. Locations
Mixed Burials 65

16. Category
Definition N 1
Primary Individual + 1 Secondary Individual 13 2
Primary Individual + 2 Secondary Individuals 3
Primary Individual + 3 Secondary Individuals 4
Primary Individual + Commingled Remains 14 5
Primary Individual + 1 Secondary Individual + Commingled Remains 22 6
Primary Individual + 2 Secondary Individuals + Commingled Remains 7
Commingled Remains 12
TOTAL: 65

17. Category 1 Category 4 Category 5 Two Individuals Individual +
Commingled Remains
Category 5
Two Individuals +
Commingled Remains
Lots / 10137
Lots / 11054
Lots / / 11033

18. Category 7 Category 7 Category 7 Lot 10812 Lot 10410 Lot 10983
Perfume and supply bottles, pipettes, rubber, broken glass, grease, cattle forearm
Category 7
Shoe sole, copper tool, ceramic tiles, rubber brace, slate fragment, broken glass
Category 7
Metal chain, medicine bottles, copper screw, pipette, bandage, wood shavings, glass fragments
Lot 10812
Lot 10410
Lot 10983

25. Unexcavated area of cemetery continues
under extant road of hospital complex

26. Mixed Burial Distribution
2013 MCIG Mixed Burials
Category N
# of Individuals
MNI of Cm Lots 1 13 2 3 4 14 5 22 6 7 12
 TOTAL: 65

27. Mixed Burial Distribution
2013 MCIG Mixed Burials
Category N
# of Individuals
MNI of Cm Lots 1 13 26 2 6 3 4 14 5 22 44 7 12
 TOTAL: 65 96

28. Mixed Burial Distribution
2013 MCIG Mixed Burials
Category N
# of Individuals
MNI of Cm Lots 1 13 26 2 6 3 4 14 37 5 22 44 72 7 12 50
 TOTAL: 65 96
162

29. Mixed Burial Distribution
The MCIG 2013 Mixed Burials represent a minimum of
258 Individuals in 65 coffins
2013 MCIG Mixed Burials
Category N
# of Individuals
MNI of Cm Lots 1 13 26 2 6 3 4 14 37 5 22 44 72 7 12 50
 TOTAL: 65 96
162

31. The author would like to thank the following individuals:
REFERENCES CITED
Adams, Bradley J., and John E. Byrd
2006  Resolution of small-scale commingling: A case report from the Vietnam War. Forensic Science International 156(1): 63–69.
Barker, Caroline, Margaret Cox, Ambika Flavel, Joanna Laver, and Louise Loe
2008  Mortuary procedures II - Skeletal analysis I: basic procedures and demographic assessment. In The Scientific Investigation of Mass Graves: Towards Protocols and Standard Operating Procedures, edited by Margaret Cox, Ambika Flavel, Ian Hanson, Joanna Laver, and Roland Wessling, pp. 295–382. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Baustian, Kathryn M, Anna J. Osterholtz, and Della Collins Cook
2013  Taking Analyses of Commingled Remains into the Future: Challenges and Prospects. In Commingled and Disarticulated Human Remains, edited by Anna J. Osterholtz, Kathryn M Baustian, and Debra L. Martin, pp. 265–274. Springer, New York.
Cheetham, Paul, Margaret Cox, Ambika Flavel, Ian Hanson, Tim Haynie, David Oxlee, and Roland Wessling
2008  Search, location, excavation, and recovery. In The Scientific Investigation of Mass Graves: Towards Protocols and Standard Operating Procedures, edited by Margaret Cox, Ambika Flavel, Ian Hanson, Joanna Laver, and Roland Wessling, pp. 183–267. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Komar, Debra A., and Wendy E. Potter
2007  Percentage of body recovered and its effect on identification rates and cause and manner of death determination. Journal of Forensic Sciences 52(3): 528–531.
Milwaukee County (Wis.) Board of Supervisors
1886  Rules and Regulations for the Government of City Poor Department, County Hospital, County Alms House, County Wood Yard and District Physicians, Milwaukee Co., Wis. USA.
Osterholtz, Anna J., Kathryn M Baustian, and Debra L. Martin
2013  Introduction. In Commingled and Disarticulated Human Remains, edited by Anna J. Osterholtz, Kathryn M Baustian, and Debra L. Martin, pp. 1–13. Springer, New York.
Richards, Patricia B.
1997  Unknown man No. 198: The archaeology of the Milwaukee County Poor Farm Cemetery. University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. 
The author would like to thank the following individuals:
Dr. Pat Richards
Shannon Freire
Adrienne Frie
Alexis Jordan
Brennan Kreiman
Daniella Marjanovich
Jessica Skinner
Dr. Katie Zejdlik
Tom Zych
…and the tireless excavation and laboratory crews of the MCIG excavation