Finding Lost Souls: Mapping and Preserving Historic African American Gravesites in Western North Carolina Using Human Remains Detection Canines and Ground-Penetrating Radar

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Canine Resources for the Archaeologist" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Throughout the American South, it is not uncommon for historical African American cemeteries and burial sites to possess little to no written records, complicating preservation efforts. Since 2010, researchers and students at Western Carolina University, in cooperation with Martin Archaeology Consulting, have utilized human remains detection (HRD) canines in concert with ground-penetrating radar (GPR) as noninvasive resources in archaeological investigations, particularly in mapping historical cemeteries. To date, the African American Gravesite Preservation Project at Western Carolina University has documented over 100 gravesites at five cemeteries in western North Carolina, located in Hayesville, Brevard, and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. In addition, a new effort is underway to locate and document burial sites of incarcerated African American laborers buried along railroad tracks during the construction of the railroad between Old Fort and Swannanoa in the 1870s. All too often, African American cemeteries are poorly documented, poorly preserved, and neglected. It is critical for a truly democratic nation to acknowledge this injustice and make every effort to recognize the lost souls of its history. Along with traditional GPR surveys, disciplined searches by trained HRD canines have been a critical component in mapping and preserving these important historic sites.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Canine Resources for the Archaeologist   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 37325.0