I have had some experience locating unmarked late 19th and early 20th Century graves on the cheap while working on the Ft. Berthold Reservation in North Dakota. These were Native graves, so any invasive procedures including the use of Pin Flags were simply not allowed, so we had to go by site and on some level, deductive whim.
Almost invariably the 'grave' depressions were some value of 3 feet by 7 feet, arranged in streets, with each individual depressions oriented east to west. They would be markedly rectilinear and deep, approximately >30cm with a relatively sheer drop at each side resulting from coffin collapse. Also, (and this is a bit alchemical) but the grasses within the grave would, more often than not turn green first and the graves would show an intensity of disturbance vegetation. Out here that would be Yuccas, Sage, etc... within the disturbed soil. I suspect that the early greening has to do with the disturbed soils allowing more efficient water transport and solving of the nutrients.
I am not sure if these indicators would be viable for a place with such a high soil accumulation rate such as Pennsylvania. Also, it does not address whether or not human remains are in fact interred in the "depression".
P.S. Strange, out of sort, and often decorative vegetation may be growing at a furious rate in the vicinity of graves; resulting from seeds/cuttings dropping or being placed there as a memorial at some point. We have seen rose bushes overtake the entire center of an 80 grave cemetery in the middle of the open prairie.
Sean M.A. Doyle
Historic Resources Specialist
SWCA Environmental Consultants
295 Interlocken Blvd. Suite 300
Broomfield, CO. 80021
303-487-1183 x.149
-----Original Message-----
From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Benjamin Carter
Sent: Wednesday, December 01, 2010 7:37 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Relocating late 19th century cemetery
All,
I received a number of very fast off-list responses. I greatly
appreciate them all and those on-list.
Here's what people suggested. Cadaver dogs got the overwhelming votes
with surface scraping a close second and probing next.
A cadaver dogs would be nice and it sounds like many of you have had
great success with them, but this project has no budget and I get the
gist from your emails that cadaver dogs who can identify 150 year old
graves are not necessarily common. I will look around and see if any of
the local police departments have such a dog with a trainer that has
some spare time- my hopes are not high.
As Lyle mentioned, surface scraping is somewhat intrusive and may fall
afoul of current laws. It may be something to keep as an option.
Probing is somewhat less intrusive (as long as I stay shallow), cheap
and quick, so perhaps I'll give that a whirl.
Thank you all for your input.
Ben Carter
On 12/1/2010 2:31 PM, Lyle E. Browning wrote:
> If the 5 depressions are laid out side by side, then the odds are highly to overwhelmingly in favor of them being graves. If not, way less so, with isolated tree falls being the culprits.
>
> Investigation is tricky. Presumably PA has laws starting from at least the Resurrectionist days against disturbance of a grave without prior administrative approval. It may be as simple as the church granting same as it is private land, if that is the law; or as complex as the SHPO or local court system process. Either way, the legal ramifications need to be addressed before fieldwork.
>
> A toothless bucket on a mechanical excavator would make quick work of determining whether the depressions had sharp 90° edges and therefore looked more gravelike than not. That still doesn't answer the ultimate question because the graves might have been exhumed later. A parishioner with a Mini-Excavator could probably be persuaded to volunteer for the effort.
>
> Another avenue entirely would be police cadaver dogs. As there is no attendant graveyard, there is nothing to confuse the dogs, but the handler would have to be familiar with a low level of response left from a 19th century burial. And, CSI programs occasionally feature electronic sniffer devices that may be able to identify decomposed human remains, but again the time depth is an issue. A training exercise for the local forensic folks?
>
> Perhaps the bigger question is absent some threat, why is there any real necessity to make the determination?
>
>
> Lyle E. Browning, RPA
> Browning& Associates, Ltd.
> 2240 Chartstone Drive
> Midlothian, VA 23113
> 804-379-1666
> 804-357-2959 mobile
>
> On Dec 1, 2010, at 1:55 PM, Benjamin Carter wrote:
>
>> 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
>> [log in to unmask]
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