The Plymouth Colony Archive Project

The gravestone below is an example of Stone 11 from the Plympton County cemetery, as depicted in Figure 3 of the study by James Deetz and Edwin Dethlefsen entitled Death's Head, Cherub, Urn and Willow.

This stone shows the development of a third, distinct style, which is nonethless related to the Medusa design and the multiple-halo styles. We see in this stone a design with more conventional wings, tightly-curled hair, and facial elements more similar to the stylistic precursors. Note that the heart-shaped mouth has been omitted on this stone, and will be replaced with a simplified mouth form on other stones in this stylistic trend. This style, illustrated by Stones 11 through 14, is found on graves in cemeteries located to the west of the cemeteries in which the other gravestone style trends are found.