Grace Turner's book is a historical archaeological study of the Northern Burial Ground on the east side of Nassau in the Bahamas. The salvage project limited the time and resources available, and disturbance affected the quality of the data recovered. However, Turner draws in historical and ethnographic evidence from other historical cemeteries in the Bahamas to produce a fascinating study of African-influenced burial practices through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Turner reviews the development of ideas about cultural change among African-descended people and their relevance to the Bahamas. She uses the concept of double consciousness because, as a Bahamian of African descent, she believes this best explains the cultural changes in the Northern Burial Ground. Turner emphasizes the importance of the study of an urban cemetery to demonstrate variation in African diasporic experiences. She then introduces the historical cemeteries of Nassau. This discussion and those in subsequent chapters would benefit from a map showing the cemeteries and other locations mentioned. The history of the Northern Burial Ground and the archaeological project are then introduced. The following chapter provides a useful review of the history of the Bahamas, focused on the growth and experiences of the free and enslaved African and African-descended populations. The effects of emancipation and subsequent economic and social development of these populations through the nineteenth and into the early twentieth century are included.

The next chapter discusses African influence on eighteenth- and nineteenth-century cemeteries in the Americas. Turner includes cemeteries in the Bahamas that she has studied that have not been previously published. The chapter develops the concept of an African-influenced landscape of burial grounds in the Bahamas. Turner discusses four aspects. One is personal items left on top of graves, and Turner provides examples from her research on Crooked Island. Another is trees and plants used as memorial grave markers. Again, Turner draws on her research on Crooked Island and evidence from other islands, including historical cemeteries around Nassau. Location near water is another characteristic that Turner finds to be common throughout the Bahamas. The fourth aspect is evidence of feasting or food offerings associated with graves, but Turner has not found evidence of faunal remains indicating these activities in any extant Bahamian cemeteries. The following chapter briefly reviews European influence on eighteenth- and nineteenth-century cemeteries. Turner reviews burial practices from pre-Christian Britain through the nineteenth century and in the British West Indian colonies. This section is too brief. A longer exposition on British colonial burial grounds would better highlight the differences with African-derived practices. Turner discusses evidence from European-style cemeteries in the Bahamas, including her previously unpublished archaeological investigation of the Centre Burial Ground in Nassau.

The next three chapters focus on the Northern Burial Ground. Turner reviews the documentary history, the threat to the site, and problems with identifying the location today. A ground penetrating radar survey of the project and adjacent areas located the boundaries and several potential grave locations. Test excavation of one anomaly located evidence of a coffin and human bones, as well as a range of cultural materials. This evidence was sufficient to remove the threat to the site and allowed Turner to undertake more extensive excavations, which are described. Only very fragmentary human remains were recovered from a minimum of six individuals. These reveal evidence of the difficult physical lifestyle of some individuals and pathologies resulting from poor nutrition, disease, or both. As Turner notes, the small sample is not necessarily representative of the site or the community that the burial ground served. The description and interpretation of the artifacts and ecofacts, focuses on the ceramics, glass, and faunal remains. Despite the disturbed context, artifacts were recovered in sufficient quantities to draw meaningful conclusions. The ceramics and glass indicate that the burial ground had been used from the early 1700s, versus the 1790s suggested by the documentary evidence. However, there were very few artifacts from 1840 onwards, though documents show that the burial ground was maintained until 1903. The artifacts indicate that eating and drinking vessels were being left on graves prior to 1840 but not after. Turner suggests a significant cultural change occurred prior to the mid-century. The faunal remains recovered were unexpected because they had not been observed at other historic Bahamian cemeteries. Turner interprets them as evidence of food offerings left in the cemetery.

In the final chapter, Turner discusses the earlier establishment of the cemetery than previously thought in terms of relations between the African-descended population and the dominant society prior to the 1790s and how after the 1790s, African-derived cultural practices continued well into the nineteenth century. Turner attributes the cessation of placing objects on graves to the changes that took place after full emancipation in 1838. She argues that emancipation brought broader opportunities that came at a cultural price. “For blacks who wanted to be socially mobile, what they conveyed to later generations was that people who were educated and culturally adept certainly did not engage in such cultural activities as placing personal dishes on top of a grave or leaving food offerings for spirits” (p. 147). Turner does suggest that less visible aspects of an African-derived cultural identity were maintained for more than a century longer. She refers to the concept of double consciousness, explaining that the African-Bahamians who used the Northern Burial Ground “conducted their public selves as good Anglicans and civilized British subjects” but “they could choose to rely privately on the reassurance of an African-derived cultural heritage” (p. 149).

Overall, I found this to be an interesting volume that contributes significantly to our understanding of African-derived cultural practices in the Americas and especially in the Bahamas. It also shows that much can be learned from a small project conducted under less-than-ideal conditions.