On March 20, Tom Scruggs, Soils Engineer, contacted this office regarding possible gravesites near State Route 53 just west of Fairmont, in Gordon County. The area in question, the cut bank north of SR 53, has a severe erosion problem; large sections of the right-of-way have slumped downhill, leaving little, if any, ground surface within the existing right-of-way along the hilltop (Figure 1). On March 21, a staff archaeologist surveyed the immediate area within and outside of the existing right-of-way. A visual check of the hilltop resulted in the discovery of one gravesite situated in a slight depression between a headstone and toestone and three shallow depressions which indicate burials that were previously removed near the present edge of the slope (Figure 2). The archaeological survey of the hilltop indicates only the one gravesite, located approximately 29 feet north of the present edge of the cut bank and 26 feet north of the DOT right-of-way marker (which has been dislodged). A large pine tree is less than 3 feet north of the grave, which measures approximately 5 feet east-to-west and 2 feet north-to-south.
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