As I said before, if this were to happen in Ohio, the state would have no
authority, nor would the local government unless they had an ordinance
dealing with such situations, which is highly unlikely.

Al Tonetti
ASC Group, Inc.
4620 Indianola Avenue
Columbus, OH 43214-1861
(614) 268-2514 x18
(614) 268-7881 fax
[log in to unmask]
www.ascgroup.net



-----Original Message-----
From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Ron
May
Sent: Wednesday, June 07, 2006 9:42 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: French and Indian War Graves & NY Looting merged at last



In a message dated 6/7/2006 5:27:44 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:

could be  a recent murder victim, or some living person's
relative - what permit  system is in place for exhuming a corpse in the
US?



Gary,

Were this in California, the discoverer has 24-hours to notify the County
Coroner. Then they have to notify the Native American Heritage Commission,
even
if the skeletons are not thought to be Native American (because the coroner
determines if this is relevant or not). Nothing further can be done until
the
Coroner has decided on the evidence at the grave. Some coroners hire
archaeologists to carefully search the surrounding area for evidence (eg. up
in
Salinas, California). Other coroners work with local police for crime scene
investigations. If it is clearly an old cemetery, a determination as to what
undertaking threatens the site is investigated (eg. construction project).
If  the
coroner and permitting agency (eg. local or state building permit authority)
determine the cemetery needs to be relocated prior to further construction
work,  then the cemetery is sealed and a very strict public notification
system
kicks  into effect. After repeated newspaper notices seeking next of kin
fails
to  identify or draw someone to claim the bodies, then the coroner and local
agency  work with the property owner to ensure a proper relocation of the
remains. The  cost of such an endeavor is usually born by the land
developer.

Here are some relevant examples to consider:

Reburial of a Prehistoric Cremation from Santee  Greens (now the City of
Santee, California). Since he is fresh in my  mind at the moment, I recall
Stan
Berryman worked out such a deal with a  developer at Santee Greens in San
Diego
County back in the late 1970s. In that  case, the developer paid for
cremation
excavation, relocation and the entire  funeral ceremony orchestrated by
Kumeyaay Native American elders and singers  brought in as far away as the
Lower
Colorado River (about 100 miles east). But  then, this is California and the
environmental laws ruled. The cost included  making the new burial box,
transportation and expenses for the funeral  participants, feast food for
the mourning
ceremony and reburial, and a lot of  other expenses. As I recall, Stan and
Judy Berryman did everything requested of  them in the highest professional
way
with no personal compensation to themselves  (beyond the initial
investigation).

Reburial at the Royal Presidio de San Diego. Some may  inquire of the graves
excavated by the late Paul H. Ezell at the Department of  Anthropology, San
Diego State University, Royal Presidio de San Diego Field  School, between
1965
and 1975? I personally assisted in exposing about ten  of those graves
between
1968 and 1971; many of which were clearly British or  American non-native or
Spanish/Mexican with minimal native ethnic  associations. In 1975, I stood
present when Ezell instructed an assistant to  place paper bags with the
skeletons precisely at the same locations (if not  articulated) where they
had been
removed, when he backfilled the field school  site (now under the Presidio
Park
lawn). Ezell had arranged for a Roman Catholic  priest to de-sanctify the
cemetery before he removed the graves, made  arrangements with the County
Coroner
to properly notice the  investigations and discoveries, received Native
Kumeyaay and Mexican American  descendant families who visited their
ancestors'
graves, and followed  detailed procedures under the laws at that time. His
detailed field notes are  curated at the Department of Anthropology, San
Diego State
University. I might  add that Ezell's crew exposed at least one 20th century
burial; which involved  an articulated skeleton lying on a board and the
skull
(with silver  fillings) had a railroad spike sunk through the temple. The
artifacts  associated with those graves were taken to San Diego State for
academic
research  and publication.

Chancellor's Surrender Policy. Some years later, Lynne  Christenson, under
contract with the Chancellor of the College of Arts &  Letters, surrendered
all
the artifacts associated with those graves (or  even within ten feet of the
graves) to the current Kumeyaay families, even  though most of the graves
were
Spanish/Mexican citizens of minimal or no Native  American Kumeyaay
ethnicity
and some were clearly British American (eg. Captain  Henry Delano Fitch and
Captain Snook). Lynn Gamble, Department of Anthropology,  is now attempting
to
determine precisely what was surrendered  versus "repatriated" (surrendered
is a
term for giving away  non-funerary items) and it appears that everything
recovered from the  1970s park lawn (toy rubber soldiers, novelty rings, and
other
20th century  artifacts) down through the post-burial deposition layers
(1840s-1930), to the  burials and from the earlier soil (pre-1782) excavated
by the
grave-diggers down  to sterile was included in the surrender. This extreme
policy went far  beyond California or federal (federal laws did not apply to
the
field school)  law regarding repatriation because most of those things had
zero to do with the  funeral of the bodies in the graves. The Chancellor, of
course, was where the  "buck stopped" with responsibility for the policy.

I understand I have strayed from the Rogers Island cemetery issue, but the
opportunity to discuss archaeologist's personal policies regarding the
future
of  professionally investigated cemeteries and their contents seems
relevant.
How do  others feel about artifacts associated with the disturbed grave
earth;
or from  soil beyond the grave? What about artifacts deposited after the
burial? Since I  have sketched out an actual incident at the Royal Presidio
Cemetery, I am  eager to learn what other people think about the
Chancellor's Policy?

Ron May
Legacy 106, Inc.