Orlando Patterson has proposed that the institution of slavery caused the “social death” of slaves, in that the inherited meanings of their ancestors were denied to them through control of their cultural practices by slave owners and overseers. A survey of archaeological evidence for mortuary practices in African-American society, however, shows that this was not the case, as such inherited meanings were present throughout the early historical period, and in some communities are still present. The careful identification of such occurrences can only be made through comparison to African archaeological and ethnographic evidence. Such occurrences do not negate the horrors of the dominance of slaveholders over slaves in the New World, but do give an opportunity to celebrate the unique nature of African-Atlantic culture.