Unmarked Graves Research Articles

Geophysical archaeology for the study of complex historical-period burial spaces: An example from the Fort Lewis military cemetery, Colorado

Geophysical methods have long been used to locate and map unmarked graves in cemeteries and burial spaces. Despite their prevalence, geophysical cemetery surveys can be extremely complex, particularly when dealing with historical-period cemeteries. Not only are there interpretive challenges from site formation processes and noncultural features, but there are also cultural challenges when seeking to study a cemetery within its historical context. Geophysical archaeology is a specialization that can guide this type of work by underscoring the cultural context for geophysical data. Beyond simply locating unmarked graves or other “anomalies,” geophysical archaeology emphasizes increasing the interpretive ability of geophysical data by situating these surveys in cultural theory. Using the example of the Fort Lewis military cemetery, which also served the Fort Lewis Indian Boarding School, in southwest Colorado, this paper highlights how geophysical archaeology was used to identify specific features about the cemetery, including the original fence line, number of likely graves, and two different burial contexts (casketed burials and exhumed graves).

Teaching(s) From Dis-ease: Grieving, Teaching and Surrender

This work is a conversation with my fears and wonder in the early days of the COVID pandemic, in which I had to live and work as a high school teacher, parent, scholar and artist. Through the weaving of my poems, paintings and life writing in an Indigenous Métissage, I reached for the teachings I have learned from my Elders and Ancestors, longing to find ways to stay human during those most inhumane days, when dis-ease was worsened by social injustice. Through the refracted world of the pandemic came the distressing news of recoveries of unmarked graves at the sites of former residential schools for Indigenous children. This news re-wrote me, unwound me, and re-routed the direction I longed to go to make learning spaces better for youth. Through poetic inquiry, I attempted to process these findings and asked Creator and All My Relations, how to be useful to the work of healing in this dis-ease.

Embodied Poverty: Bioarchaeology of the Brentwood Poor Farm, Brentwood, New Hampshire (1841–1868)

AbstractThrough a commingled, fragmentary assemblage of skeletal remains (MNI = 9) recovered from a 1999 salvage excavation, this article explores the lives and deaths of individuals interred at the Brentwood Poor Farm, Brentwood, New Hampshire (1841–1868). This work demonstrates that bioarchaeological analyses of smaller samples can provide nuanced accounts of marginalization and institutionalization even with scant historical records. The skeletal analysis presented here is contextualized within the larger history of the American poor farm system and compared to similar skeletal samples across the United States. The hardships these individuals faced—poverty, otherness, demanding labor—were embodied in their skeletal remains, manifesting as osteoarthritis, dental disease, and other signs of physiological stress. These individuals’ postmortem fates were also impacted by status; they were interred in unmarked graves, disturbed by construction, and once recovered, were again forgotten for more than 20 years.

Improving GPR interpretation by applying image-enhancing attributes and machine learning techniques: A case study over Green Hill Cemetery in Frankfort, Kentucky

Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) enables noninvasive imaging in structural mapping applications such as unmarked grave detection. However, burial signatures can be cryptic and require expert analysis. This study investigates attribute enhancement and machine learning to automate identification of variable-signature graves at Green Hill Cemetery in Frankfort, Kentucky. Nine complementary seismic attributes were computed from the GPR envelope reflectivity volume to boost discontinuities and patterns indicative of shafts. Coherent energy, pseudofrequency, and similarity transforms showed optimal visualization enhancement. These volumes were input into unsupervised k-means and self-organizing map (SOM) machine learning models to cluster potential burial sites. Both methods accurately characterized strong anomaly reflections associated with apparent grave boundaries. However, limitations emerged in classifying subtler signatures that are likely linked to deteriorated or deeper interments. SOM clustering provided finer segmentation between noise and targets. Collectively, attributes amplified burial edges for easier recognition, while machine learning clustering expedited identification of most vault structures and unmarked sites. However, edge case discrimination remains a challenge. Results suggest that hybrid human-machine learning analysis can enhance efficiency over purely manual interpretation. With further method refinement, automated attribute and machine learning workflows show strong potential for accelerating GPR-based cemetery and archaeological mapping.

An ethical framework for geophysical survey in historic Black cemeteries

AbstractHistoric Black cemeteries in the south‐eastern United States are actively threatened by development, neglect, environmental degradation and vandalism. Geophysical archaeological tools are often championed as a solution to document unmarked graves, determine cemetery boundaries and help preserve these spaces. This process can be problematic as geophysical instruments themselves do not find graves; rather, the data collected are reviewed by a skilled professional to interpret where graves might be present. Archaeological geophysical practitioners thus hold a great responsibility to conduct themselves in an ethical manner. Important considerations include archaeological ethics, professionalism and honest communication, as well as centring the needs of preservation within the communities of descendants and stakeholders, if possible, in the way we process, interpret and communicate results.

Reconsidering Treaty 8 Negotiations: The Canadian Government’s Purposeful Exploitation of a Disadvantaged Population

Treaty 8 was signed on June 21, 1899, between the Government of Canada and Indigenous Peoples living in the northern Alberta, northeastern British Columbia, southwestern Northwest Territories, and northwestern Saskatchewan region. Calls for the treaty began in the 1870s, but negotiations only began one day before the treaty was signed, raising questions about the fairness and professionalism of the negotiation process.1 Issues involving the mistreatment of Indigenous Peoples, both historically and contemporarily, have been on the front pages of media increasingly since the discovery of unmarked graves at a Kamloops formerresidential school in 2021. Each case of the Canadian government’s mistreatment of Indigenous Peoples, or enabling of it, is different and needs to be examined individually with consideration of the different sources relevant to each event or case. This research sought to uncover if injustice or mistreatment of Indigenous groups occurred during the Treaty 8 negotiations, and if so, how. The research reveals that the government took advantage of the poor economic conditions affecting Indigenous Peoples in Northern Alberta and created Treaty 8 to unfairly benefit itself on the premise that Indigenous Peoples are less worthy of respect from the government. Negotiations were unfair and Indigenous Peoples were mocked and exploited, calling into question the ethics of Treaty 8 and the need to not only reconcile, but to completely re-examine Treaty 8 and other historical treaties and laws concerning Indigenous groups.

The next chapter: How Ryerson University became Toronto Metropolitan University

The murder of George Floyd in 2020 and the discoveries of unmarked graves at the sites of former residential schools in Canada in 2021 have put the spotlight on the treatment of Black and Indigenous peoples across North America. This focus is increasing calls for the removal of names, statues and other forms of commemoration tied to figures from Canada's colonial history. By virtue of its name, Ryerson University — named after Egerton Ryerson (1803–82), formerly the Superintendent of Education and a primary developer of Ontario's public education system, who is also viewed to have paved the way for Canada's residential school system — became a focal point in this broader debate about how to recognise Canada's history and take the important steps forward on the path to reconciliation. In April 2022, Ryerson University became Toronto Metropolitan University, the first post-secondary institution in North America to change its name to address colonialism and better reflect its values of equity, diversity and inclusion. The decision to rename the 74-year-old institution was unprecedented. There was no blueprint, no budget and — for reasons of confidentiality and to manage potential leaks — the marketing and communications teams had to develop and execute strategies and tactics without knowing the official name. As Canadians learn more about Canada's history and the treatment of Indigenous peoples, the pressure on other public institutions to act in a manner with the principles of true reconciliation will continue to rise. This paper shares how the university's strategic communications and marketing teams supported the renaming by developing and executing a comprehensive plan to engage, inform, educate and prepare the community for the launch of a new name and pave the way for adoption. It presents the key components of the plan, strategies and tactics used, evaluation metrics, challenges and how they were met, and critical lessons learned.

The challenges of signal interpretation of burials in ground‐penetrating radar

AbstractThe identification of unmarked graves and burials is one of most common applications of ground‐penetrating radar (GPR) in archaeology. Despite a high frequency of use and a long history of experimentation, there appears to be considerable variability on what indicates a burial in GPR data—likely a consequence of heterogeneity in geological contexts, age and in burial practices. Although general statements about uncertainty in GPR interpretation may be acceptable in archaeological applications, the interpretative process becomes more complicated when GPR is used to locate unmarked graves in culturally, politically and legally contested locations such as at former Indian Residential Schools (IRSs) in Canada. In this paper, we review international applications of the technique and identify trends and traits between the authors' use of GPR to identify burials. By categorizing the studies based on the GPR reflection signatures identified, our review demonstrates that there is modest consensus across the 77 documents reviewed for what represents a burial. Interrogating these findings, we identify a range of potential contributors to signal heterogeneity and outline potential steps forward to a higher confidence or more statistically robust identification of unmarked graves using GPR.

Collaborative multimethod geophysics at the Prewitt Slave Cemetery, Northport, Alabama

AbstractThis paper serves to highlight the partnership built between the Prewitt Slave Cemetery Association (PSCA) and the University of Alabama (UA) through the work conducted by the UA archaeological field school at the Prewitt Slave Cemetery (PSC) in Fall 2022. During this collaborative project, the field school students geolocated, recorded and photographed more than 700 above‐ground grave markers and conducted a multi‐method geophysical survey that included magnetic gradiometry, electrical resistance, electromagnetic induction and ground‐penetrating radar. Results from this survey aided researchers in identifying the locations of over 800 marked and unmarked graves. The benefits of the partnership between PSCA and UA were mutual and multiple. First, the data recorded by the UA field school helped the PSCA achieve its immediate goal of identifying unmarked graves, allowing the organization to move forward with efforts to preserve and protect the PSC. Second, the UA field school students gained valuable experience related to proper cemetery study techniques, including geophysical survey, and learned to conduct community‐based participatory research in collaboration with descendant communities. Additionally, this project allowed for further research related to the use of multiple methods of geophysical instrumentation for identifying unmarked graves beyond ground‐penetrating radar.

Saying what we mean, meaning what we say: Managing miscommunication in archaeological prospection

AbstractIn North America, archaeological prospection has recently undergone a surge in popularity, resulting in higher visibility for both scientific and fringe narratives. This has been partially due to increasingly sensationalized media articles that promote the use of technology to locate overgrown and subsurface features in the landscape. The heightened profile of the field and increasingly sensitive contexts in which it is applied (e.g., locating potential unmarked graves) has expanded the discipline beyond its usual settings where typical archaeological prospection rhetoric and narratives are applied. In this paper, we explore how the presentation of archaeological prospection can impact descendant communities and their burial and cultural spaces. We identify rhetoric, discourse and narrative as key considerations that have resulted in the twisting of interpretations to support fringe narratives. We present two case studies: (1) denialism surrounding unmarked graves at former Indian Residential Schools and (2) the reinterpretation of Indigenous spaces by Graham Hancock's Ancient Apocalypse. We draw upon these seemingly disparate examples as evidence that ambiguity in scholarly communication and ‘certainty’ in fringe communication can both be used to the detriment of Indigenous and other descendant communities in various ways that we term pseudoarchaeological colonialism. Finally, we recommend strategies on how to disseminate results in non‐harmful ways and confront the wrongful usage of archaeological prospection.

On Cemetery Hill: The legacy of burials at Clemson University, a public university in the southern USA

AbstractGround‐penetrating radar (GPR) was used to map anomalies characteristic of unmarked graves on the grounds of the modern Woodland Cemetery on the campus of Clemson University. Hundreds of these anomalies are believed to represent newly discovered unmarked graves belonging to African Americans including enslaved people, convicted laborers, sharecroppers, domestic workers, tenant farmers and wage workers, who contributed to the wealth of the Fort Hill Plantation or to building and maintaining the university. These burials appear to be in an organized arrangement indicating the presence of a burial ground where the graves would have been marked at the time of internment. Analyses of reflections from the bottom of the grave shaft detected horizontal bases as well as possible chambered and vaulted burials, a common vernacular burial type among African Americans in the 19th and early 20th centuries. A fewer number of graves showed hyperbolic reflections that can be produced by graves that contain coffins or a large artefact. This may indicate burial practices that changed over time or the status of the interred individual. The estimated length of the grave shaft in GPR grid data suggests that small adults or adolescents made up most of the burials (58%), then adults (28%) and infants and children (13%). In 1924, Woodland Cemetery was developed on Cemetery Hill, which had its first recorded burial in 1837. Plots were then gifted to prominent University leaders, faculty, staff and their families. The unmarked burials were found juxtaposed among these modern graves requiring modification of the current protocol for the operating cemetery to preserve the sacred space and to prevent destruction of these burials. This work affirms ongoing efforts by this public university to address its origins from a plantation and segregation in the American South.

Community‐led investigations of unmarked graves at Indian residential schools in Western Canada—overview, status report and best practices

AbstractPart of Canadian history that is now being addressed is the legacy of Indian residential schools (IRSs) and closely related institutions. For most of their 200‐year‐plus history, these were run by various churches or religious organizations, and many were directly funded (and eventually run) by government. Attendance by Indigenous children at these schools was made compulsory, and children were deliberately taken far from their cultural base, native language and family in the name of cultural assimilation. Abundant and longstanding evidence has documented abuse, neglect and high rates of death at the schools. Most or all schools had cemeteries, many of which have fallen into neglect and/or been lost through time. Documenting the numbers, names and burial locations of students who died at the schools has become a national priority. Since 2021, interest in this work has accelerated, due in large part by media announcements of geophysical findings of potential unmarked graves at various school sites. Geophysical surveys for unmarked graves are planned or underway at a large number of school sites nationwide. Related lines of research are seeking to document the extent and nature of student deaths based on archival records, survivor accounts and other lines of evidence. As suggested by government and demanded by Indigenous communities, these searches are being led by the affected communities. This paper represents a snapshot of elements of the work in progress, based in part on the personal participation of the author in multiple IRS searches and resulting direct involvement with local communities. Included in this contribution are a historic context, broad overview of community participation/leadership and suggested refinements to geophysical survey best practices that have been promulgated by the Canadian archaeological community and other nationwide organizations.

Rising above the ashes: Sustainable development goals and the intersections of peace education amid a violent past.

For the sake of promoting peaceful and inclusive societies and building accountable and inclusive institutions, what can peace leadership educators do in the Here and Now to implement equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities? This question is raised within the context of the discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves of Indigenous children on the grounds of several former Indian Residential Schools across Canada. Emerging from the responses to the question raised, the authors offer a peace education model that includes four distinct yet interconnected aspects for college student leadership educators (i) be principle-centered; (ii) be courageous in challenging questions asked, (iii) be purposeful by enabling safe spaces where learners' stories can be told and heard, and (iv) be imaginative by choosing hope rather than despair.

Manic History

On May 27, 2021, the Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation reported the discovery of 215 unmarked graves on the site of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia. Their first response was mourning for the loss of young lives; their second response was melancholia for the loss of the children's names. David Eng and David Kazanjian advocate a “counterintuitive” interpretation of melancholia as “creative,” redefining it as the work of mourning that sustains “a continued and open relation to the past.” Jeff Barnaby's 2013 film about residential school resistance, Rhymes for Young Ghouls, affirms melancholia as a creative relation to the past for Indigenous people while drawing attention to another agency that allows settler society to actively lose the past. Freud remarks that the “most remarkable” quality of melancholia is the way it turns into mania, which ensues when “the ego coincides with the ego ideal.” What if some losses do not make us melancholic but manic? Is it possible to make history by losing history? Settler mania incites Indigenous melancholia by displacing responsibility for children's deaths from church and state to parents who are themselves school survivors.

Lessons in relationality: reconsidering the history of education in North America

ABSTRACT This article offers a sampling and critique of the history of education in North America, including Canada, the United States and Mexico. Being Black and Indigenous academics, respectively, the authors’ scholarship centres on community relationships, considering activism around #BlackLivesMatter and Indigenous Peoples, especially with the news of thousands of unmarked graves at former Indian Residential Schools in Canada. Amidst increasing global calls for decolonisation, social justice and accountability, we ask: how should one consider the history of education in North America amidst social unrest, climate change, the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, ongoing colonialisms, gender inequities, police violence against Black bodies and unmarked graves of Indigenous children? This paper traces histories of Indian Residential Schools, explores schooling structures and emerging settler states, and examines the growing focus on local histories to offer new directions in the history of education that challenge antiquated national narratives.

The Three Sisters: the first three Beatitudes as guiding an embodied response to the discovery of the unmarked graves at residential schools across Canada in 2021

ABSTRACT Using the Indigenous Three Sisters gardening technique as a guiding metaphor, this paper will explore a wholly embodied response to the disturbing headlines of the discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves at residential schools across Canada in 2021. Just as the Indigenous Three Sisters cooperate together for mutual flourishing, the Beatitudinal trio of humility, grief, and meekness will be promoted as characteristics of a wholly embodied response to this specific issue and the large issue it represents, which is an oppressive and troubled historic relationship between Indigenous and white settlers. This paper will use Terry A. Veiling’s double exegetical approach of ‘on earth as it is in heaven’ as the underlying practical theology framework. Perspectives of various Indigenous Canadian theologians along with hopeful stories of white settler Canadian church leaders whose performative and incarnational responses resemble the three sisterly Beatitudes will be included throughout. I see the flourishing of the Three Sisters together as a helpful and practical metaphor for the Canadian church as we consider how humility, grief, and meekness can help us neighbour well with Indigenous people.

“‘I didn’t learn anything’”

The Indian residential school system is a part of Canada’s dark and ‘hidden’ history. Despite the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement being reached in 2006, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) publishing its final report in 2015, and the further discovery of unmarked graves at former school sites in 2022, many Canadians are still unaware of the atrocities of residential schools and the continued mistreatment of Indigenous peoples throughout what is now known as Canada. This essay explores Fort Albany Residential School, also known as St. Anne’s, in Fort Albany, ON. Using Department of Indian Affairs school files, accessed through the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR), and testimonies by survivors to the TRC, this essay will argue that St. Anne’s was an unsanitary and dangerous environment for Indigenous children because of inadequate funding, overcrowding and malnourishment, and the use of brutal discipline which caused some students to risk their lives in attempt to escape such horrors.

Poe in Richmond: Celebrating the Poe Museum’s Centennial

Poe in Richmond: Celebrating the Poe Museum’s Centennial

Decolonization the what, whyand how: A treatieson Indigenous nursing knowledge.

Decolonization the what, whyand how: A treatieson Indigenous nursing knowledge.

A methodology for the self‐training and self‐assessing of new GPR practitioners: Measuring diagnostic proficiency illustrated by a case study of a historic African‐American cemetery for unmarked graves

AbstractIn ground penetrating radar (GPR) surveys of African‐American cemeteries suspected to contain unmarked graves, determining the proficiency of a new GPR practitioner is vital and perhaps even more fundamental than that of the GPR hardware, deployment configuration and software. Proficiency may be defined as the practitioner's true‐positive, true‐negative, false‐positive (i.e., false alarms) and false‐negative (i.e., misses) percentages. We embarked on this research as a means to improve our own proficiency in unmarked grave detection and to develop an algorithm by which to improve the proficiency of any new GPR practitioner. After surveying the Salem Cemetery in Brazos County, TX, and the Old Danville‐Shepherd Hill Cemetery in Montgomery County, TX, we first classified subsurface targets based on in‐field, visual inspection of the real‐time, onscreen, unprocessed (except for an automatic gain control) GPR B‐scans. We then developed a proxy for ground‐truthing that allowed us to calculate the proficiency of the in‐field classifications. From this proxy, we established a quantitative prevalence threshold for identifying or rejecting a subsurface object as a target of interest. Its quantitative nature allowed us to quantitatively control and adjust that threshold, a threshold we set at 70% likely to be to a specific target of interest. We show that our classification accuracy increased from 66.2% at the Salem Cemetery to 75.0% at the Old Danville‐Shepherd Hill Cemetery and, through use of diagnostic evaluations originally developed for medical imaging and herein applied to geophysics, showed that the accuracy improved due to increases in true‐negative classifications, that is, in examining real‐time, onscreen, mostly unprocessed GPR B‐scans, discerning a potential target and correctly concluding it was not an unmarked grave. This research outlines the procedure we developed to measure the proficiency of a new GPR practitioner.