Location Of Graves Research Articles

The effectiveness of ground-penetrating radar surveys in the location of unmarked burial sites in modern cemeteries

Ground-penetration radar (GPR) is a geophysical method that is commonly used in archaeological and forensic investigations, including the determination of the exact location of graves. Whilst the method is rapid and does not involve disturbance of the graves, the interpretation of GPR profiles is nevertheless difficult and often leads to incorrect results. Incorrect identifications could hinder criminal investigations and complicate burials in cemeteries that have no information on the location of previously existing graves. In order to increase the number of unmarked graves that are identified, the GPR results need to be verified by comparing them with the soil and vegetation properties of the sites examined. We used a modern cemetery to assess the results obtained with GPR which we then compared with previously obtained tachymetric data and with an excavation of the graves where doubt existed. Certain soil conditions tended to make the application of GPR difficult on occasions, but a rough estimation of the location of the graves was always possible. The two different methods, GPR survey and tachymetry, both proved suitable for correctly determining the exact location of the majority of graves. The present study thus shows that GPR is a reliable method for determining the exact location of unmarked graves in modern cemeteries. However, the method did not allow statements to be made on the stage of decay of the bodies. Such information would assist in deciding what should be done with graves where ineffective degradation creates a problem for reusing graves following the standard resting time of 25 years.

“They Even Threaten the Sick That They Will Not Be Buried in the Churchyard”: Salvage Archaeology of the Raritan-in-the-Hills Cemetery, Somerset County, New Jersey

This article discusses the chance discovery and subsequent salvage archaeology of an early-18th-century German Lutheran burying ground in the mountains north of Pluckemin, somerset county, New Jersey. The project began purely as a salvage operation wrought by residential development; excavation techniques employed under less-than-ideal conditions and a description of the cemetery are presented. Documentary research revealed that the congregation had only lasted from ca. 1714 to 1756, during which time it endured a great deal of internal conflict. Osteological analysis permitted age/sex identification of most of the individuals interred in the cemetery, and the artifactual record provided an opportunity to explore some aspects of the burial practices employed. These data, together with observed variation in the location of individual graves within the cemetery, are used to formulate a possible interpretation that links the variations observed in the physical remnants of the cemetery with the historical record that speaks in detail about the social breakdown of the community during its brief 50-year existence. In brief, the interpretation offered here argues that the principal of social organization within Raritan-in-the-Hills shifted from one of corporate unity (Gemeinschaft) to individual survival (Geschellschaft) prior to its final dissolution.

Time‐Lapse Geophysical Investigations over a Simulated Urban Clandestine Grave*

A simulated clandestine shallow grave was created within a heterogeneous, made-ground, urban environment where a clothed, plastic resin, human skeleton, animal products, and physiological saline were placed in anatomically correct positions and re-covered to ground level. A series of repeat (time-lapse), near-surface geophysical surveys were undertaken: (1) prior to burial (to act as control), (2) 1 month, and (3) 3 months post-burial. A range of different geophysical techniques was employed including: bulk ground resistivity and conductivity, fluxgate gradiometry and high-frequency ground penetrating radar (GPR), soil magnetic susceptibility, electrical resistivity tomography (ERT), and self potential (SP). Bulk ground resistivity and SP proved optimal for initial grave location whilst ERT profiles and GPR horizontal "time-slices" showed the best spatial resolutions. Research suggests that in complex urban made-ground environments, initial resistivity surveys be collected before GPR and ERT follow-up surveys are collected over the identified geophysical anomalies.

Determination of grave locations in Dedemezari Necropolis (Western Turkey) using magnetic field derivatives

AbstractThe location of the study area for this research of a Middle Bronze Age Necropolis is situated in the west of Turkey near Afyonkarahisar. Magnetic surveying was carried out in two adjacent areas (Areas 4 and 5). Four trenches have been excavated so far and graves were located in positions interpreted from a magnetic survey carried out in 2005. Initial excavations have shown that cist, pithos and simple graves were placed randomly and it is suggested that Dedemezari Necropolis is similar to the well known necropoleis of Gordion and Sariket. This paper compares the results of some phase‐based filters which show improved performance as edge detectors in different ways. The filters are demonstrated on synthetic magnetic data and magnetic field data from Dedemezari Necropolis. Magnetic field derivatives, both vertical and horizontal, are common and useful tools for interpretation of the magnetic anomalies. Interpretation of magnetic field derivatives, separately or together, provide images of shallow bodies from magnetic data. The horizontal derivatives of the total magnetic field were computed in the space domain by means of finite‐difference relationships, and the vertical derivative was computed in the frequency domain by using fast Fourier transform filtering. Derivatives of the magnetic anomalies have been used for detection of causative bodies. The analytic signal (AS), the enhanced horizontal derivative (EHD), tilt derivative (TD), theta map, hyperbolic tilt angle (HTA) and total horizontal derivative (THDR) methods were applied not only to synthetic anomalies but also to the measured magnetic anomalies of Areas 4 and 5. However, AS and EHD produced the best results as the other methods created edge effects. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

An Investigation of the Vegetation Associated with Grave Sites in Southern Ontario

ABSTRACTBotanical evidence may be used in forensic investigations to estimate postmortem interval (PMI) of decomposed remains, to link a suspect to a crime scene, and to track distribution of plant-based illicit substances. A recent application of botanical evidence to forensic science is for the potential identification of clandestine grave locations. The burial of pig carcasses for a decomposition study in southern Ontario provided the opportunity to investigate the botanical species associated with grave sites in this region. This study investigated the differences in vegetation structure and species composition on grave sites in an environment that was dominated by weed flora. Differences in botanical species between grave sites and undisturbed areas were identified and highlighted the potential of these species to be used as grave indicators. Further studies are recommended to investigate the effect of seasonal variation, land use type, and inter- and intra-year variations.

Paleopathology of the commoners at Tell Amarna, Egypt, Akhenaten's capital city

The Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten initiated worship of a single god and established a new capital city (Tell Amarna) that was built and occupied only once from 1350-1330 BCE. This single short occupation offers a unique opportunity to study a short time period. The royal tombs have long been known and studied, but the location of graves for the common inhabitants has been an archaeological puzzle for more than 50 years. Recently four cemeteries have been located and the analysis of commingled bones from the South Tombs cemetery is presented here. The remains yield the following demographic profile: 53 adults with 19 females and 18 males; 14 juveniles between the ages of 5 and 17; and 3 infants. Arthritis and degenerative joint disease of the spine and joints indicates that DJD was not excessive. Only 2 to 8% of the adult population exhibits arthritis. There are 3 healed fractures of the arm (2 to 8% of the adult sample). There is 1 healed compressed fracture of the skull suggesting violence. The adult infection rate is between 2 and 8% with 3 healed and 1 active case of periostitis and no severe infections. Anemia is implicated by 23% of adult frontals exhibiting cribra orbitalia. Life for the common residents of Amarna appears to not have been as good as initially postulated.

DENTAL MODIFICATION IN THE POSTCLASSIC POPULATION FROM LAMANAI, BELIZE

Dental modification, present in 36% of the adult burial sample (N = 61) dating to the Postclassic period at Lamanai, Belize, was analyzed to determine its association with status and sex using both biological dietary indicators (stable-isotope and dental-pathology data) and archaeological indicators (grave location and architecture). There was no association between diet and modification. Males and females shared many of the same modification types, but some were sex-distinctive. The frequency of modification differed by archaeological context. For example, modification was present only in individuals buried in ceremonial structures, presumed to represent high status. Types of modification differed between Belizean sites and those from other regions. These data support the hypothesis that dental modification may have been a means of identification with a lineage, polity, ruler, or region.

The social context of the emergence, development and abandonment of the Varna cemetery, Bulgaria

In this article we outline some of the key characteristics of the social structure of the Climax Copper Age in the eastern Balkans and the contributions of the Varna cemetery to those developments. We continue by examining the implications of the new series of 21 AMS dates from the Oxford Radiocarbon Laboratory, which represent the first dates for the Varna Eneolithic cemetery on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast. Representing the first phase of the AMS dating project for the Varna I cemetery, these dates have been selected to provide a range of different grave locations, ranges of grave goods, and age/gender associations. We conclude by addressing the question of the unexpectedly early start of the cemetery, as well as its apparently short duration and relatively rapid demise.

Environmental influences on resistivity mapping for the location of clandestine graves

Abstract Geophysical surveys are being increasingly applied for the detection of clandestine burials. Ground-penetrating radar has been used successfully but is not appropriate for many sites. For this reason, other techniques such as resistivity mapping are being tested. Resistivity is sensitive to many different changes in the ground that can be caused by a grave; however, the small physical extent of the target makes location extremely difficult. Other environmentally caused variations in resistivity may be of the same magnitude as those caused by a grave, and it is important to consider whether the resistivity anomaly caused by a grave can be detected over this background variation. This paper provides a summary of the method and discusses two case studies in which resistivity mapping was employed to locate a clandestine grave. The resistivity results of a survey over moorland were dominated by the thickness of the peat coverage while the resistivity of a survey in a river valley was dominated by various environmental variations, including a medieval furrow system. Both sites were eliminated from enquiries after extensive cadaver dog searches and some excavation, although it was considered that the environmentally caused resistivity variations at both sites would have made location of a grave by resistivity alone extremely difficult. However, the success of resistivity for landfill locations suggests that resistivity may be more appropriate for the location and delineation of larger features such as mass graves.

Taphonomic Mycota: Fungi with Forensic Potential

Forensic archaeologists and criminal investigators employ many different techniques for the location, recovery, and analysis of clandestine graves. Many of these techniques are based upon the premise that a grave is an anomaly and therefore differs physically, biologically, or chemically from its surroundings. The work reviewed in this communication demonstrates how and why field mycology might provide a further tool towards the investigation of scenes of crime concealed in forest ecosystems. The fruiting structures of certain fungi, the ammonia and the postputrefaction fungi, have been recorded repeatedly in association with decomposed mammalian cadavers in disparate regions of the world. The ecology and physiology of these fungi are reviewed briefly with a view to their potential as a forensic tool. This application of mycology is at an interface with forensic archaeology and forensic taphonomy and may provide a means to detect graves and has the potential to estimate postburial interval.

Mortuary Ritual and Social Hierarchy in the Longshan Culture

The mortuary data from the Longshan culture provide crucial information for understanding the process of socio-political change from non-stratified to stratified societies in late Neolithic China. This article identifies the variables in Longshan burials that can be correlated with social rank, and then studies four Longshan burial sites (Taosi, Chengzi, Yinjiacheng, and Zhufeng) in two steps. The first step is to classify the evidence for determining burial rank; the second step is to analyze intra-cemetery spatial patterns through time, including the location of graves within a site, the distribution of differently ranked graves and spatial relationships between graves and associated features (houses and pits), the diachronic changes observed in a site, and the depositional practices relating to ritual activities. The results of these analyses suggest that kinship-based Longshan communities were internally and externally stratified in their social structure; that this social stratification was ideologically legitimized by ritual activities that emphasized ancestor worship; and that their society was politically reinforced by an elite exchange network of high status goods at both regional and interregional levels. These social, political, and religious relationships formed the foundation for the development of civilization in prehistoric North China.

The image of nature in geomancy

The art of geomancy (feng-shui in Chinese) is concerned with choosing auspicious sites from which man can benefit. Geomancy has been one of the most important ideas which influenced man's relationships with nature in East Asia and has significantly affected the location and morphology of cities, villages, houses and graves in China and Korea. In geomancy, nature is basically interpreted in terms of the following three images, namely: (1) magical, that which is produced mysterious power to influence man; (2) personified, that which is treated as functioning system of animate organism or inanimate object; (3) vulnerable, that which can be destroyed or recovered by human action.