Per your request personnel from Southeastern Archeological Services, Inc. (SAS) conducted a second phase of investigation at a small cemetery on the north side of Timothy Road that is located on a tract of land that you are currently developing. This second phase of investigation took place on Friday, April 28 and consisted mainly of using a smooth bucket backhoe to cut shallow strips on three sides of the cluster of obvious, visible graves in order to discern whether other graves occur. Grave shafts would appear as rectangular, east-west oriented stains of mottled earth surrounded by undisturbed red clay subsoil. This letter and the attachments are our report of our second phase of investigations. The monitoring of the stripping was conducted by SAS archeologist Joel Jones. Company principal Chad Braley also inspected the stripping to confirm Jones' conclusions. Jones and Braley each have over 30 years of archeological experience in the Southeast and each has delineated and/or exhumed over a dozen cemeteries, mostly in Georgia. Both had visited the cemetery on Timothy Road prior to the extensive grading that has recently occurred around the cemetery. Jones participated in the discussions you and I had a couple of months ago about the proposed second phase of investigation.
As you related to us, another cultural resources firm had originally delineated the cemetery and had detected between two and six graves clustered together about 20 to 30 ft east of a large oak tree. These graves, or potential graves, had been marked with pin flags that were still in place. You also related to us that the cemetery appears on an old plat map as a rectangle about 80 ft (east-west) by 120 ft in size and fronting on Timothy Road. You showed us where your surveyors had flagged this platted rectangle on the ground, and it indeed encompassed the visible few graves. The question then was whether these boundaries included all graves and, if so, could the boundaries of the cemetery be tightened to include less area. It is common for a tract of land designated for a cemetery to contain only a few graves and encompass only a portion of the designated tract. Conversely, it is sometimes the case that graves spill over a boundary line into adjoining property.
Help us to continue to make advances in research, stewardship, and bringing the past to life. No matter the size of the gift, your contribution will directly support groundbreaking archaeological research through sustaining student and outreach programs, and technological innovations. To make a secure gift online to the Archaeology Lab Fund, CLICK HERE.