The African Burial Ground is of unparalleled significance to America’s heritage. In recognition of the need to provide for in-depth research and analysis of the site not only in response to the requirements of federal law, but because of the great public, community, and scholarly interest in the site and its history, GSA contracted Howard University to conduct intense research and analysis into the history, biological anthropology, and archaeology of the African Burial Ground.
Howard University, working with noted scholars and researchers throughout the United States, planned three technical reports, one emphasizing the historical context of the cemetery, one analyzing the biological anthropology of the African Burial Ground and the individuals interred therein, and one discussing the archaeology of the site. GSA and Howard University are pleased to provide electronic copies of all three component reports – the African Burial Ground Final History Report, the African Burial Ground Final Skeletal Biology Report, and the African Burial Ground Final Archaeology Report. The reports present the results of three separate but complementary avenues of research and analysis—historical, bioanthropological, and archaeological.
GSA also recognized that the three technical reports provide a large volume of information spread over many scientific disciplines, and that synthesis of this data is essential to a complete understanding of the site. GSA, again working with Howard University, published a single, integrated volume. This integrated report summarizes and unites the complementary data provided in the three component reports.
Finally, because the information contained within the three component reports and the integrated report is technical and directed primarily towards the scientific community, GSA also produced a document for the wide-spread use of the public and the educational community. This document, or “popular report,” showcases the history and story of the African Burial Ground as learned through the historical, bioanthropological, and archaeological research in a manner accessible to all interested individuals.
In addition to the studies on the African Burial Ground, details on the non-mortuary use of the site are in companion reports The Archaeology of 290 Broadway prepared by John Milner Associates (2010). These reports contain additional site archeological and historical data analysis; the artifact catalog; conservation report; and a comprehensive artifact database in Microsoft Access.
The New York African Burial Ground reports
Unearthing the African Presence in Colonial New York (for the general audience)
Volume I — The Secular Use of Lower Manhattan’s African Burial Ground
Volume II — The Archaeological & Historical Data Analyses
Volume III — The Artifact Catalog
Volume IV — Conservation of Materials from the African Burial
Volume I Part I — The Skeletal Biology of the NYABG
Volume I Part II — The Skeletal Biology of the NYABG
Volume II Part I — The Archaeology of the NYABG
Volume II Part II — The Archaeology of the NYABG — Descriptions of Burial
Volume II Part III — The Archaeology of the NYABG — Appendices
Volume III - Historical Perspectives of the NYABG — New York Blacks and the Diaspora
U.S. General Services Administration