Indy-ology youth program: Discovering Greenlawn Cemetery through history and archaeology
In 2024, construction began for the City of Indianapolis-Department of Public Works’ White River Innovation District Infrastructure Project’s new bridge, the Henry Street Bridge. Because the project impacts the site of the former cemeteries that collectively are referred to as Greenlawn Cemetery, archaeology is an important element of the project. Excavation of grave shafts began in November 2024 on the unmarked but known cemetery sections within the bridge project’s right-of-way, just west of Kentucky Avenue and adjacent to the White River. This included a section of the Original/Old Burying Ground and the Union/New Burying Ground.
The City-County Archives staff realized this project was an unprecedented opportunity to engage with youth. This project, named Indy-ology, was conceived for high school students who are interested in the STEM fields, and/or specifically in archaeology, anthropology, medicine, information science, and forensics. Our aim was to create an opportunity for exposure to these disciplines, workforce development and a potential pipeline to employment with an emphasis on diversifying these fields.
The Indy-ology program offered a cohort of eight high school students an opportunity to learn and practice both the humanities elements and scientific elements of archaeology. Students gained experience in archival, genealogical, and material culture research, as well as lab experience in osteology and bioarchaeology. The students also spent time at the excavation site. Students developed workforce skills related to cultural resource management. Students also developed research skills related to local archives, burial artifacts, and the history of Indianapolis. We hope the students left the program with a sense of civic mindfulness, having contributed to the culture and heritage-making of this project, shared their research, and having worked with CAG members.
The program’s learning objectives included:
- Understand basic archaeological research strategies and methods
- Learn how to identify bones in the human skeleton
- Understand how to clean and rearticulate the human skeleton
- Learn how to clean, catalog, and identify artifacts
- Familiarize themselves with local archival and genealogical collections
We concluded the final day of class with a mock conference and graduation reception. The students selected a research topic of interest to present on to the group, which included parents/guardians, funders, city officials, instructors, and guest speakers.
Final presentation topics included:
- Precontact White River and Ecology: “Greenlawn and the White River: What Existed at Greenlawn Before it was a Cemetery?”
- Grave Robbing: “Body Snatching”
- Burial Practices: “Cultural Burial Practices in Greenlawn Cemetery”
- Common 19th Century Diseases: “Disease After Death: How Common 19th Century Diseases Affect the Human Skeleton”
- The Process of Analyzing Human Remains in the Lab: “From Bones to Data”
- Craniometrics: “How Craniometrics can Determine Ancestry”
- Dental Morphology: “Tooth Morphology: And Its Uses in Estimating Ancestry”
- Biological Profiles and Pathology: “Constructing Biological Profiles in Indianapolis’ Greenlawn Cemetery”
This first Indy-ology cohort exceeded our expectations for the program. Thanks to everyone who applied, everyone who participated, to our funders, and to our instructors and guest speakers.
Stay tuned for future announcements about public programming and other forms of engagement related to Greenlawn Cemetery and the project excavation.
