When geomorphologist Tom Meierding researches past environmental conditions and compares them with modern pollution levels, tombstones serve him better than test tubes or high tech instruments.
One of less than a dozen researchers in the world who use gravestones as environmental guideposts, this University of Delaware geography professor has measured about 15,000 grave markers in more than 700 cemeteries during the last 25 years to study the environment, pollution and natural landforms.
In one of his many journal articles, Meierding notes that "cemeteries have been among the most durable of cultural landscapes, preserved even in cities where competition for land is intense." And, while their longevity depends upon the condition of the monuments, these slabs of stone offer views into the culture, traditions, economics and priorities of the people of the region and time period.
Meierding traveled across the U.S. for nearly two years to measure the thickness of gravestones. Basically, he took a scientific sampling of 30 stones per graveyard. He measured the thickness at the base portion of the vertical marker and then made additional measurements higher up the slab as an indicator of wear and tear.
Other graveyard investigation methodologies involve measuring the legibility of tombstone inscriptions (using similarly dated stones in different locales) and calculating and comparing the overall deterioration of tombstones in different regions.
Meierding said the fact that tombstones are dated is a significant factor and asset in his research. Side by side photographs of similarly dated marble slabs tell dramatically different stories, and it's fairly easy to apply a formula that determines the extent of damage on each stone.
Tombtones from the center of Philadelphia or Pittsburgh or Boston may indicate serious deterioration, while stones located in rural areas of these respective regions may remain in a much higher state of preservation and legibility.
Meierding proposes that the effects of industrial pollution during the early, coal burning years of the last century-when industrial plants were centered in the cities and environmental controls did not exist-were devastating to gravestones and even the facades of area buildings.
Although, he adds, many people think that today's pollution and acid rain are the cause of this damage, that is not the case. The worst ill effects of industrial sulfurous air pollution inflicted on weathered tombstones occurred 60 to 70 years ago. With today's much cleaner air-resulting from less manufacturing, plants moving out of the cities and tighter environmental laws enacted after World War II-the deterioration of historic and modern cemetery monuments has abated dramatically.
While there still will be natural effects from the weather and present day pollution, he said, the rate of destruction has been slowed appreciably.
During his two-year research trip, Meierding visited small town burial grounds and big city memorial parks throughout the U.S., including Hawaii, plus family and town plots in Canada.
When he drove his car into a small rural town, he would ask the locals for directions to the nearest church or town plot.
"I just went into a town blind and would ask older people in the streets," he said. "You don't go into a McDonald's and ask where the cemetery is."
After driving to a location, he would conduct his research, which took about two hours, and then drive about 200 miles to the next site. He usually repeated this process three times each day. Often, the geographer would sleep in the back of his car beside the rural cemetery, rise in the morning and measure it, and be on the road again.
Although they are not the primary focus of Meierding's research, he said social patterns, artwork, architecture, heritage, religious influence and economic fluctuations all can be ascertained from the locations of cemeteries and the monuments that lie within.
Since he was primarily concerned with collecting data, Meierding said, he did not have the time to appreciate the unique artforms and cultural statements that many of the cemeteries offered.
"If I let myself begin to explore them," he said, "I would have never been able to finish the study."
Some of his research, he said, has been applied to projects related to historic preservation that he performs in conjunction with his adjunct position in the UD Department of Art Conservation.
"I'm not the first person to study tombstones to assess the weathering process," Meierding said, noting that a geologist in the 1880s conducted studies in which tombstones were examined to determine how fast rocks decay.
Talk to Meierding and he'll share statistics and charts, peppered with dots alongside lines, indicating the strong relationship between the lack of legibility of tombstone inscriptions and the intensity of industrial pollutants in major cities nearly 100 years ago.
Probe deeper and you'll learn a wealth of fascinating information. In New England, sandstone, slate and schist were the primary materials used for tombstones. Granite was prevalent in the 20th century, and marble-with its white character symbolizing purity and innocence-came into use during the Victorian era. Flat bronze markers are prevalent today and, at a few sites, grave markers made of aluminum and wood can still be found.
"When I talk to an audience about my research," Meierding said, "some people tell me afterwards that they had no idea the topic could be so interesting, since it deals with air pollution, history and the environment."
Students tend to find the research surprising, he added, because they haven't spent much time in cemeteries.
"Most people who have been to one of my lectures or seen what I've done," he said, "will come back and tell me they've gone out and noticed something they hadn't seen before. And, geography gives all of this a certain amount of cohesion."
Several of Meierding's students and graduate students have worked with him over the years and contributed their own research findings to some of his journal articles. He said all of this work involving tombstones has implications well beyond determining past causes and future preservation techniques of centuries-old cemetery sculpture.
"We can extend the results of our research to other building and statuary materials," he said.
The titles of a few of his journal articles highlight his areas of research: "Marble Weathering and Air Pollution in Philadelphia," published in Atmospheric Environment (1987); "Inscription Legibility Method for Estimating Rock Weathering Rates," published in Geomorphology (1993); "Philadelphia's Effect on Precipitation Acidity from Marble Gravestone Dissolution Rates," published in The Pennsylvania Geographer (2000); and "Marble Tombstone Weathering and Air Pollution in North America," published in Annals of the Association of American Geographers (1993).
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Contact: Neil Thomas, (302) 831-6408
Oct. 16, 2001
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