Anthropology

Previous Excavations of the Moran Site

Human remains--namely, four skulls and numerous post-cranial bones--first appeared at the site in 1914 during leveling of the property.

•See newspaper articles about the 1914 discovery.

Fifty-five years later, on August 17, 1969, Hurricane Camille hit the Mississippi Gulf Coast, inflicting damage to the Moran property. During the process of renovation, 12 to 13 burials were exposed, four of which appeared to be reinterments, possibly those from 1914. Later that year, anthropologists Richard Marshall of Mississippi State University and Dale Greenwell of Biloxi conducted an examination of the exposed graves. At this point, a two-inch metal pin was the only artifact found accompanying the burials, and it was sent to the University of South Carolina for analysis. According to local newspaper reports, the pin was found to be of European origin, dating from 1680 to 1720. The lack of associated artifacts was presumed to result from the use of perishable goods, such as cotton and leather for clothing, as well as the re-use of more durable materials, such as buttons or buckles. An examination of the skull and tooth morphology suggested that most of the individuals were likely Caucasian, although two females may have been Native American. After all analyses were completed, the bones were again deposited in the sands from which they were retrieved, although partially exposed for public display through plexiglass floor panels at the art studio.

•See newspaper articles on the 1969 excavation.

In 2003, the University of Southern Mississippi’s Department of Anthropology and Sociology, under the direction of physical anthropologist Marie Danforth, and with permission from the Moran family, disinterred the remains and conducted further study of the cemetery site in the crawl space beneath the floor of the art studio. The goals of the analysis were to evaluate the demographic characteristics of the individuals, especially in terms of establishing their cultural affiliation, and to reconstruct their lifeways, including dietary practices, activity patterns, and health status (Carter et al. 2004).

Eight burials were examined; six skulls and two of the more complete skeletons were brought to the Physical Anthropology Laboratory at USM for more thorough study. A bone sample was submitted for Carbon-14 analysis, the results of which support that the site dates to the earliest reaches of the French Colonial period (1699-1763). Also, formal osteometric evaluation identifying five of the individuals as Caucasian, coupled with the use of French burial practices, strongly suggests European origins. The findings of the 2003 excavation were presented at a symposium at the 2004 annual meetings of the Mississippi Academy of Sciences in Biloxi and an article published in Mississippi Archaeology (Carter et al. 2004).

•See photos of the 2003 excavation
•See newspaper articles about dig
•See the Mississippi Archaeology article