Archaeologist searching for thousands of unmarked graves in Australia's cemeteries

[Newsman]

The radar looks for lines in the soil that show where new graves have been dug over time, and where existing graves have been dug up and added to.
Headstones inside a cemetery.

The lines remain for hundreds of years after the soil has been moved.

"Conventionally, with archaeological techniques in the past, the only way to find unmarked graves is with excavation — that's a really slow, painstaking process," Dr Moffat said.

"It's very expensive to have archaeologists doing that work, and it's really very invasive as well.

"Geophysical techniques are a fantastic way to solve this really difficult problem."


https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-05-01/ ... a/12198996

[john09]

GPR for archaeology is always fascinating, here is a cool one. Look at the GPR data representation at the end of the video:

[Michael_Seman]

Where I live there is an old pioneer cemetery only 1 km from the CBD. The basketball courts of a girls school was built over one end of it a long time ago. I presume that must have been the poor folks end with timber crosses that rotted away. Anyway, the old school stood empty for years, and a property developer bought it to turn into hotel/apartments. So before starting construction, they had to find the old graves and dig up the bones to be transferred to the main cemetery.

[geophix]

Where I live there is an old pioneer cemetery only 1 km from the CBD. The basketball courts of a girls school was built over one end of it a long time ago. I presume that must have been the poor folks end with timber crosses that rotted away. Anyway, the old school stood empty for years, and a property developer bought it to turn into hotel/apartments. So before starting construction, they had to find the old graves and dig up the bones to be transferred to the main cemetery.

It would be a perfect showcase for GPR/geophysics if it's used.

[Tyler]

Here is the GPR image for the viking ship: