Gravestones and Monuments in the Maritime Cultural Landscape: Research Potential and Preliminary Interpretations

Abstract

Thousands of memorials around the world commemorate maritime disasters and death. In addition to commemoration, memorials provide insight into the conceptual landscape of maritime peoples. Types of maritime memorials, locations where they can be found, and the limitations of memorials as archaeological artefacts are discussed. Data from 18th‐ and 19th‐century English and American maritime memorials are used to make preliminary interpretations regarding Anglo‐American maritime beliefs. Based on this I argue that memorials are a valuable source of data for maritime cultural landscape studies, particularly for what they reveal about maritime belief systems.

© 2006 The Author

Key words:

• maritime cultural landscape
• maritime memorials
• belief systems
• conceptual landscape
• world view

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to Sylvia Grider, Kevin Crisman, Tom Green, and James Bradford for their guidance on this project. Thanks also to Richard Gould for his encouragement in pursuing this topic, Heidi Luchsinger for her comments on the manuscript, and Michelle Damian for assistance in preparing the illustrations. I would also like to extend my appreciation to the editor of this journal and an anonymous reviewer, both of whom helped make this a much better paper.

Notes

1 So many gravestone studies have been conducted since the 1960s that the bibliography has now grown to daunting proportions. Bell (1994) and Mytum (2004) provide excellent overviews of the literature, which scholars interested in conducting a study should consult for background information and ideas for avenues of investigation.

2 The reader is referred to Mytum (2004) for a complete discussion of formation processes which affect memorials.