Institutional Death: A multidisciplinary study of burial practice at RNH Haslar

The study of burial archaeology has the potential to uncover new knowledge about burial practice, treatment of the dead and past populations. In the past, excavations of 18th and 19th century burial grounds have not been fully published, with many excavation results not accessible in full. The recent rise in historical burial ground excavations, particularly in London, by commercial archaeological companies has highlighted the strengths of multidisciplinary analysis. Despite this, there is still a large gap in knowledge in relation to institutional burial grounds, burial practice and treatment of the dead, with many reports focusing heavily on osteological analysis. Furthermore, most excavations of burial grounds are London centric, leading to a lack of information about burial in other geographical areas. This research aims to characterise burial practice and treatment of the dead at the Royal Naval Hospital Haslar Burial Ground, utilising a multidisciplinary approach. The research will be the first to consult all available data to present a synthesised appraisal of the burial process at Haslar Hospital, placing it into the wider context of institutional burial landscapes. The site itself presents an interesting opportunity to study a Naval burial ground with a known date range of 1753-1826, a period of just 73 years. The Hospital is an example of an institutional burial space located outside of London, with the opportunity to add significant knowledge to burial practice outside of the capital. The utilisation of documentary and cartographic sources has strengthened the interpretations offered as part of this research and highlights the benefits of a multidisciplinary approach to archaeological analysis. Overall, this research has identified, discussed and characterised the key aspects of burial archaeology at Haslar Hospital, uncovering a highlevel of attention to detail in terms of treatment of the dead. The simple and utilitarian method of burial encountered at Haslar is synonymous with expectation for institutional burial practice.This research has utilised the documentary sources relating to the hospital to aid in the understanding of numbers of burials, administration and approaches to death at the Hospital. This research has also identified the normative and differential burials at the site with a notable burial made with anti-slave trade tokens around the cranium.Overall, this PhD thesis presents the first multidisciplinary study of burial practice at a Royal Naval Hospital, using the Royal Naval Hospital Haslar as a focus for the research.