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Roots Entwined: Archaeology of an Urban Chinese American Cemetery

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Abstract

Archaeological excavations conducted in the Chinese section of Portland’s Lone Fir Cemetery provide a rare opportunity to study the materials associated with the late-19th- and early-20th-century funerary practices of an urban Chinese American community. In conjunction with documentary evidence, the materials show that Portland’s Chinese immigrants and their descendants preserved traditional Chinese customs and selectively incorporated European and American elements into funeral rituals as they actively forged transnational identities as Chinese Americans.

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Smits, N.J. Roots Entwined: Archaeology of an Urban Chinese American Cemetery. Hist Arch 42, 111–122 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03377103

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