IN SEARCH OF A MISSING CHILD: A GEOPHYSICAL (GPR) INVESTIGATION OF A CEMETERY

Due to both natural processes and anthropogenic changes, burials within the landscape can, in a short period of time, become very difficult to recognize on the surface. If a burial is not marked (e.g. mound, headstone) or properly recorded (e.g. sexton) and the surface expression is no longer apparent, it becomes difficult to locate the burial so that the site can be properly protected. In addition, as organizations responsible for maintaining these sites are no longer viable, governmental bodies become mandated to take over and maintain the burial sites with little knowledge of the site's history. Ground penetrating radar (GPR) provides a noninvasive and nondestructive geophysical tool that allows one to survey and image the shallow subsurface. The interpreted GPR results provide the probable location of burials which is critical when dealing with such sensitive areas.

Previous research projects including the investigation of Native burial mounds in Wisconsin, a graveyard at Qumran, Israel, and the Maori graves in New Zealand have provided the authors experience to locate unmarked and unrecorded graves. In west central Wisconsin in the 1950's, a young child was buried in an unmarked and unrecorded grave within St. Rose Cemetery in Cadott, Wisconsin. The cemetery is located on flat terrain along side a gully and has a Menahga loamy sand type soil. Initial site investigation, included a visual inspection for depressions and comparison of marked graves to the sexton report. According to the sexton's records the individual child plots were 24 inches (0.61 m) by 12 inches (0.3 m). Based on GPR surveys (7 m by 9 m grid, transects every 0.5 m, traces every 0.05 m), burials were located at approximately 0.5 meters deep. Burials with markers and burials without markers but recorded on the sexton's map were found, however two burials were found that were not noted on the sexton's records and also had no marker or surface expression. GPR provides a non-invasive tool to locate unmarked and unrecorded burials allowing proper protection, or in this case, finality for an uncertain family.