| Project Background |
| Highway construction was proposed along
a major east-coast interstate. Historical records of the
proposed construction area indicated that the site had
been previously used as a paupers' cemetery for unclaimed
bodies during a tuberculosis epidemic at the turn of the
century. Instead of risking the possibility of unearthing
human bones during construction and incurring media
scrutiny, Geo-Graf was retained to perform a nonintrusive
investigation in an attempt to determine if the mass
grave burial sites were located within the proposed
construction area. |
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| Geo-Graf Investigation |
| Utilizing Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) techniques,
three possible mass burial locations were detected.
Because of the presence of multiple bodies per grave
excavation, the lack of coffins, and vertical stacking of
bodies, it was not possible to determine the exact number
of bodies per burial pit. Subsequent test holes were dug
within the Geo-Graf-recommended areas, and evidence of
human burials was found. |
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| GPR Data Profile |
| Please Wait as
the image below loads. It is actual radar data of a human
mass grave collected by Geo-Graf engineers utilizing a
550 MHz GPR antenna. |
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| Above: A GPR data profile over the
mass burial pit. The pit was delineated by GPR to be
approximately 10' x 20' in size. Subsequent
ground-truthing by our client confirmed the human burial.
550 MHz GPR antenna system. |
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