Abstract
Gravestones occupying the Presbyterian portion of Dunedin's Southern cemetery were interpreted within their archaeological context as the outcome of the influence of both social relations between the living and relations between the living and the dead in Dunedin's history. Two hundred and nine gravestones erected between 1858 and 1959 were recorded, their attributes analysed and associations between these attributes and value of family burial plots offered. The cemetery is seen as partaking in the ideology of Social Darwinism in the late 19th century while the visual reduction in social stratification which takes place in the cemetery in the early 20th century reinforced the egalitarian ethos espoused by the Liberal government and the community at this time.