My colleagues and I are conducting a combined GIS and geophysical analysis of a
Revolutionary War period cemetery in New Jersey.  Does anyone know if burials of
 this
period were laid out with the bodies (i.e. head + feet) oriented in any particul
ar cardinal
direction?  Most of our headstones are blank field stones and lack any clear ind
ications of
which side of the stone the body was placed on.  The majority of the field stone
s have their
long axes facing either E or SE.
 
Our analysis is further complicated by the fact that both headstones and footsto
nes appear
to have been used to mark some graves.  Since the preservation of these marker s
tones is
not always what one might hope, there is some ambiquity about which is which.  A
ny ideas
re. these questions would be much appreciated.
 
Thanks in advance (and apologies for earlier blank message)!
 
 
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Dr. Clay Mathers
National Resarrch Council Fellow
Center for Cultural Site Preservation Technology
Waterways Experiment Station
3909 Halls Ferry Road
Vicksburg, MS 39180-6199
 
tel.           (601) 634-3791
fax           (601) 634-2835
e-mail     [log in to unmask]
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