Slices and Snouts: A Combined Canine arcHRD and Archaeogeophysical Approach to Finding a Lost Black Cemetery in Northwest Ohio

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Paper / Report Submission (General Sessions)", at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

In 2020, two Defiance, Ohio librarians set out to relocate a forgotten Black cemetery. Established by Archibald Worthington, a freedman, Civil War veteran, and successful farmer, the cemetery served the needs of a small but lively Black community in northwestern Ohio from the 1850s to the 1890s. The search for the cemetery combined historical research, canine archaeological human remains detection (arcHRD) survey, and geophysical remote sensing methods. These efforts led to the location of the site in a cornfield in the nearby hamlet of Ayersville.

In this presentation, we describe the utility of this novel methodological approach. We also take stock of community engagement around the Worthington cemetery, considering the development of stakeholdership and meaning around a historic Black burial space within an overwhelmingly white community. Finally, we discuss ongoing efforts to preserve and commemorate the cemetery site.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Paper / Report Submission (General Sessions)   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2025

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow