CAMBIO Y CONTINUIDAD EN LA MATERIALIDAD FUNERARIA DEL CEMENTERIO JUDíO ALGARROBOS, COLONIA MAURICIO (CARLOS CASARES, PROVINCIA DE BUENOS AIRES)

In this paper we present the analysis of the Algarrobos cemetery, which belonged to the Mauricio Colony (Carlos Casares County, Buenos Aires Province), founded by the Jewish Colonization Association (JCA) in 1891. We focus on the description and analysis of the 226 graves’ formal characteristics, the iconography that decorates their tombstones, as well as the form and content of the epitaphs. We describe the graveyard’s spatial layout, which follows rules of Jewish funerary tradition but we also point out instances of lack of fit to those rules. We adopt a diachronic approach, discerning variations in different aspects of the funerary materiality over time, and relating them to changes at the local, national and global levels. In this sense, we observe clear tendencies towards a simplification and standardization in several aspects of the funerary materiality in the 1930 and 1940 decades, which coincides with the colony’ s decline and loss of ethnic homogeneity, the process of urbanization of the former colonists, as well as their increasing assimilation and integration into the national society