Ground Penetrating Radar Survey at the Beaufort National Cemetery, Beaufort, South Carolina

The GPR survey project documented in this report was the second GPR survey for the proposed expansion of the Beaufort National Cemetery. A previous study, also conducted by Cypress Cultural Consultants (Battle 2003), employed different technology and technicians from this study. The two areas surveyed in these two studies were, for the most part, completely independent. For more background information on the project and the culture history of the project landscape, readers are directed to Battle's 2004 report. She provides an excellent historical context for the property. Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) consulting services for the present study were provided by Rocquemore Research, Box Springs, Georgia, under subcontract to Cypress Cultural Consultants in June 2004. The results of this work were originally included as Appendix I in a report by Cypress Cultural Consultants to the engineering firm of MACTEC (Elliott 2004; Battle and Battle 2004). This LAMAR Institute publication contains a revised edition of the 2004 GPR survey for the Beaufort National Cemetery Expansion with additional comments. Elliott (2004) identified many radar reflections within the sampled survey blocks that were suspected to be human burials. Using Elliott's GPR data, Battle (2004) compiled a list of 46 possible burials (PBLs) in addition to the 27 PBLs that she identified in the previous survey (Battle 2003). Battle (2004) discussed many of the problems that hindered complete identification of potential human graves in the study area, including sinkholes, mortuary "practice" activity, tree roots and trash deposits. She recommended mechanical scraping of the shallow topsoil, prior to any extensive (deep) ground disturbance, in order to determine if additional human remains were present in the development tract. Following the submission of the two research reports by Cypress Cultural Consultants, ground breaking for the cemetery expansion began. This work started by using heavy equipment to remove the asphalt pavement on the eastern end of President Street. Archaeologists with Cypress Cultural Consultants monitored this work and, almost immediately, human remains were discovered just beneath the pavement. The archaeologists recorded and unearthed a series of infant burials, which were discovered at very shallow depths. The results of this "ground truthing" are not covered by the present report.