While on the other side, I have seen removed cemeteries where bits of bone,
coffin wood, and hardware were scattered throughout the former cemetery.
Seems the cemetery, removed in 1939-1940, was removed by the common practice
of a power bucket (aka steam shovel, backhoe, etc.) and the burial (usually
a collapsed coffin) was simply scooped up and redeposited inside a concrete
or wood box vault setting on the back of a flatbed.  The vault was then
placed into the new cemetery.  Those big pieces of equipment are less
scrupulous about ensuring all remains are collected and moved.

Stephen P. Austin


-----Original Message-----
From: Diane Houdek [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, September 13, 2000 3:56 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: unmarked cemetery question


Kris,

It depends on preservation, but a disinterred cemetary shouldn't have wood
and bone fragments in your test pits.  I know that sounds obvious, but if
you have a good bulldozer operator who can scrape the ground in thin 1/4
inch layers you'll see outlines of the grave shafts or pull up bits on
coffin hardware and coffin wood if the graves haven't been moved.  If they
have, you'll probably find very indistinct grave edges.  I dealt with a
supposedly disinterred cemetary (it definitely wasn't) where all the
headstones had been removed, but the graves were still there underneath the
plow zone.

Diane Houdek
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