Participant Info

First Name
Robyn
Last Name
Lacy
Country
Canada
State
Affiliation
Memorial University of Newfoundland
Website URL
https://spadeandthegrave.wordpress.com/
Keywords
archaeology, historical archaeology, landscape, burial ground, gravestone, conservation, cemetery, Newfoundland, New England, 17th century, colonial, settlement, graveyard, graves, burial, lime kiln, excavation, built heritage, cultural heritage
Availability
Media Contact
Additional Contact Information
Please email me, or dm me on Bluesky
PhD
PhD

Personal Info

Photo
About Me

I am an archaeologist, illustrator, and gravestone conservator, with my PhD in Historical Archaeology from Memorial University of Newfoundland. My PhD research focused on 17th-century burial landscapes of British, Dutch, and French settlements in North America, examining their development in early colonial settlements. I also explored the visibility of Black and Indigenous burials within colonial burial grounds.

My ongoing research includes gravestone conservation and I run a cemetery preservation firm, Black Cat Cemetery Preservation, with my partner. I also examine gravestone iconography and inscription work, conservation of gravestones and burial spaces and informing the public on how to better preserve their historic burial grounds, public mortuary archaeology, protective folk hex marks and their use on graves, and winter body disposal and storage in Canada. My interests also extend to industrial archaeology, in particular lime kilns and quarries, paleoethnobotanical analysis of soil, archaeological illustration, and built heritage.

I am currently beginning a research project with the Svalbard Museum to expand work on C17th British whalers burial sites in the Svalbard archipelago.

Recent Publications

Lacy, Robyn S. 2025. Community Archaeology & Burial Landscapes in New Perlican, Newfoundland and Labrador. In Collaborative and Community-Engaged Archaeology. Edited by Carolyn Dillian, Katie Clary, and Charles Bello. University Press of Florida: Gainsville. Pg. 202-217.

Spinelli, Robert and Robyn S. Lacy (editors). 2025. ‘Hail the Victorious Dead: Historical and Contemporary Displays of Grief in our Communities’. Berghahn Books: New York.

Lacy, Robyn S. 2024. Daisy Wheel, Hexfoil, Hexfoil, Rosette: Protective Marks in Gravestone Art. Berghahn Books: New York.

Lacy, Robyn S. 2021. An Inconvenient Corpse: Settler Adaptation to Winter Death and Burial through Structural and Oral History. Northeast Historical Archaeology 50: Peripheral Spaces in Historical Places: Insights from Archaeology in the North Atlantic: 113-124.

Lacy, Robyn S. 2020. Burial and Death in Colonial North America: Exploring Interment Practices and Landscapes in 17th Century British Settlements. Emerald Group Publishing: Bingley, UK.

Lacy, Robyn S. 2018. Public Engagement through Burial Landscapes: Cupids and Ferryland, Newfoundland. Forthcoming publication in: Online Journal of Public Archaeology.

Lacy, Robyn S., Gaulton, Barry C., and Stephen J. Piercey. 2018. Inscriptions, Outcrops, and XRF: Analysis of the Ferryland Gravestones. North Atlantic Archaeology Journal, Volume 5, 2018. Pg. 91 – 110.

Lacy, Brendan, & Robyn Lacy. 2018. Fragments of Industry. Acorn, Vol. 43, Issue 1. Architecture Conservancy of Ontario.

Media Coverage
Country Focus
Canada
Expertise by Geography
British Isles, North America, Scandinavia
Expertise by Chronology
17th century, 18th century, 19th century, Early Modern, Modern, 20th century
Expertise by Topic
American Founding Era, Art & Architectural History, Environment, Local & Regional, Material Culture, Museums, Urban History