Ben:

Wondjina Research Institute (WRI) is currently using portable X-Ray
Florescence (pXRF) soil and plant technologies to find graves and midden
areas on historic and prehistoric sites in New Mexico and Arizona for our
mineral industry and governmental clients.  We have been successful in
finding graves with soil pXRF surveys at Fort Craig and middens at a site in
Arizona due to their higher phosphorous content (See my presentation on the
pXRF plant work at the 1st SHA pXRF Symposium at Amelia Island this year for
examples of how this works). 

WRI has research grants from Olympus INNOV-X (OIX) to develop pXRF
archaeochemical and archaeobiochemical technologies and procedures for these
types of field and would do FREE analyses of your soil or dried plant
material at the SHA Archaeochemical Workshop in Austin in January, at the
OIX booth at Austin, the OIX Booth and Archaeochemical Workshop at SCA in
Rohnert Park in California, the SAA OIX booth at Sacramento OR you can send
up to 10 samples for FREE analysis under our existing OIX grant to WRI's
Sonora California office.

Hope this helps!  The documentation of how graves can be detected by their
elevated soil phosphorus content is well known in the literature and I can
send you the reference on the 2010 SAA Archaeochemical Workshop CD  from St.
Louis if you would like. 

Sincerely,

Richard J. Lundin BA, MA, RPA, ISAP
Consulting Historical Archaeologist & Remote Sensing Specialist
(Archaeogeophysics)
Director, Wondjina Research Institute
Co-Organizer & Co-Chair of the 1st SHA pXRF Symposium at SHA 2010 at Amelia
Island, Florida
Co-Organizer & Co-Chair of the 2nd SHA Technology Symposium at SHA 2011 at
Austin, Texas
Co-Organizer & Co-Chair of the 2nd SHA pXRF Symposium at SHA 2011 at Austin,
Texas
Co-Organizer & Co-Chair of the 1st SAA pXRF Symposium at SAA 2011 at
Sacramento, California
Member, SHA Technology Committee
Liaison from the Society for Archaeological Science (SAS) and the
International Society for Archaeometry (ISA) to SHA


 
-----Original Message-----
From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of McMahan,
Dave (DNR)
Sent: Thursday, December 02, 2010 8:36 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Relocating late 19th century cemetery

Ben,
Talk to the folks at http://www.k9forensic.org/.  You might recall a demo
they did at the SHA in Sacramento a few years ago.  I have tried using
cadaver dogs without success, even with relatively recent skeletal and
highly decomposed remains.  My understanding is that the dogs must be
cross-trained to recognize the scent of decomposed remains as opposed to
recent cadavers.  The K9 Forensic folks should be able to help.
Alternatively, I've had moderate success just using a soil probe to locate
clandestine graves.

Dave

Dave McMahan
State Archaeologist, Deputy SHPO
Alaska Office of History and Archaeology
550 W. 7th Ave., Suite 1310
Anchorage, AK 99501
Voice: (907)269-8723
Fax: (907)269-8908



-----Original Message-----
From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY on behalf of Benjamin Carter
Sent: Wed 12/1/2010 9:55 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Relocating late 19th century cemetery
 

  All,

I was recently contacted by a local historian who has an interesting 
problem. I don't have a lot of time, but thought I would throw this 
problem out there and see if any of you have thoughts on quick and easy 
ways to deal with this issue.

The story:
A local iron works was built in the mid to late 19th century. Along with 
the factory the company built dorms and a church. The church still 
exists, but there is no cemetery officially associated with it. Indeed, 
many of the factory workers who attended the church (and whose funerals 
were held at the church) can be located via head stones in other 
cemeteries in the area. However, just behind the church are five 
depressions that are roughly the right size for a grave. The local 
historical society can demonstrate that there were also five individuals 
in the church records who are not accounted for in other cemeteries. 
These tend to be children and itinerant laborers with little apparent 
connection to the area. It sounds quite plausible to me, but I have NO 
experience with late 19th century cemeteries.

My question: Aside from GPR, excavation,  or other time intensive and 
expensive methods, is there a quick way to assess whether or not there 
are human remains in these depressions?

Cheers,
Ben

-- 
Ben Carter, Ph.D., RPA
Visiting Assistant Professor of Anthropology
Sociology and Anthropology Department
Muhlenberg College
2400 Chew Street
Allentown PA, 18104
Phone: 484-664-3961 Fax: 484-664-3718
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