M. Jay Stottman wrote:
>
> Does anyone know what exactly a cemeterian is and what kind of
> qualifications they have?  I have a situation where a cemetery
> consultant used soil probing to clear an area around a cemetery
> for development.  This consultant did not "in his opinion" find
> any unmarked graves through this method.  While I agree with the
> methods used and the results of the investigation, I am a bit concerned
> about the qualifications of someone who is essentially doing
> archaeological investigations.  This particular consultant has no
> archaeological experience, but states that disinterment of remains
> can be done under the supervision of a funeral director.
>
> My question is, when is it archaeology, when is it not and who decides
> what it is?  This consultant certainly has great experience in studying
> cemeteries.  He probably knows much more about them than I do, but is he
> qualified to use the same techniques as archaeologists to make
> determinations about the location of or absence of graves for a
> developer?  Maybe someone should require cemeterians to have some
> archaeological experience.
>
> M. Jay Stottman
 
Jay, whether you need an archaeologist to excavate a cemetery depends on
which state you live in.  In Kentucky, state law only requires a funeral
director to be involved.  Some local governments ask for an
archaeological assessment first, but they are few and far between.
 
Ohio's law is apparently much more ambiguous, but does not mention
archaeology.  The OHPO has recently informed me that they do not
generally take jurisdiction over historical cemeteries.  In Indiana, the
DHPA decides whether the project is conducted through either of two state
laws; one for cemeteries and one for archaeology.  If a developer can
find descendants, they may in most cases use a funeral director and do a
straight disinterment.  However, the cemetery I have recently been
working on had been abandoned for over 50 years and we were allowed to
excavate the burials without a funeral director.
 
As to what a cemetarian is; did this person call himself a cemetarian?
I've never heard of anyone professionally calling themself that in our
Tri-state area (OH-KY-IN), but what state are you talking about?  Could
he produce qualifications (for example, a list of cemeteries he had
worked on)?  If he has worked on a lot of cemeteries, I might actually be
interested in talking to him about his success rate, and whether his
probing has ever been tested;i.e. by exhuming the graves.
 
Jeannine Kreinbrink
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