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Tue, 18 Mar 1997 08:53:00 -0800 |
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In response to your inquiry:
"Does anyone know what exactly a cemeterian is and what kind of
qualifications they have?"
I have never seen the word cemeterian before, nor have I ever seen
qualifications listed for someone in this position. From your letter,
I assume that the person you were dealing with was an individual
associated with a funeral director, who assists in the location and
possibly emhuming of burials. This probably is an individual with no
academic training either in archaeology or history.
"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 is true under certain circumstances, in certain jurisdictions. In
the jurisdictions where I have dealt with such issues, the decision as
to whether a cemetery is considered an archaeological site or not is
either stated or implicit in the law or is up to the SHPO office if
they become involved.
"is he qualified to use the same techniques as archaeologists to make
determinations about the location of or absence of graves for a
developer?"
Again, it depends upon the law. I have worked on sites that
previously have been cleared by representatives from funeral homes,
where burials were later discovered.
There are a great number of archaeologists who work on cemetery sites
and utilize techniques such as remote sensing and stripping of the
topsoil or plowzone to determine the boundaries of cemeteries and
number of burials present. In instances where we have been required
by law to have a representative from a funeral director present, the
archaeologists have still conducted the work.
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