Using Geophysical Survey Methodologies to Assist Descendant Communities in the Recording and Preservation of African American Cemeteries in Texas

Summary

This is an abstract from the "What’s Going on in Texas? Current Topics in Texas Archaeology" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

According to the Texas Freedom Colonies Project, there are hundreds of known and unmarked African American cemeteries in Texas. Some of these cemeteries have been uploaded to the community-based project and likely represent only a small fraction of African American cemeteries in the state. Many African American cemeteries have not been maintained by local municipalities or church congregations have moved or closed and lack infrastructure for cemetery maintenance. The impermanence of many markers in these cemeteries means that African American graves in larger, maintained cemeteries are unrecognized and at danger of being disturbed. Texas State University has been engaged by several descendant communities in central Texas to conduct geophysical surveys at African American cemeteries to help identify unmarked graves. In this presentation, we discuss working with descendant communities, what geophysical methodologies work best in Texas cemeteries, and how these projects have been beneficial to communities and our students who have participated in the research.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• What’s Going on in Texas? Current Topics in Texas Archaeology

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 51766