I do hope that people working in 19th century cemeteries are haz mat trained
and wear protective materials, as chemicals associated with embalming often
leak out into the surrounding soils and can enter an excavator's body under the
fingernails or through open cuts and become a health hazard to the field crew.
Prolonged exposure to such materials as arsenic could be fatal. I do not
think this is true of 17th and 18th century cemeteries, but then again some of the
wealthier families used lead coffins and that could corrode and contaminate
the soil.
Ron May
Legacy 106, Inc.