Question about finding human remains??

[Noodle]

Here in my neck of the woods, people lived on their family's lands for generations. A hundred years ago, and farther back yet, to bury a family member on the family land was nothing unusual. Sometimes they had funds for stones, sometimes not. They used items for monuments that we would think of. Bedsteads. Wooden crosses. Rocks laid upon the grave to give it protection from coyotes and panthers a hundred years ago.

My grandfather bought land a mile outside of town in 1915 or so, in conjunction with his brother. Grandpa built a house on it, the chimney of which is still standing. It's an old Indian settlement land. Lots of arrowheads and stones found over the past century.

All that's interesting, but a friend of mine went to his cousin's field, which was activally engaged in a crop. I forgot if he was growing soybeans or corn that year. But this year, there are no doubts as to who has won: farmer or Mother Nature, or Jesus. It is sad.

bg

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Diving for Pleasure and Treasure - Grab it through Amazon!

[deepskyal]

Spent a lot of my youth up your way God's Country Girl. Even done some site checking over the years. I came across some private burial sites on people's property....family cemetaries. Ayre's Hill has a very small family cemetary...pretty neat if your into that. Also a stark reminder that slavery existed in Pa. You may have come across an old slave burial. They were kept from the rest of the family's main plot.

Al

 

[Noodle]

Noticed my response above didn't make sense somehow.

Lots of graves are found now and then on private lands from 100 years or so back. Back then it was like burying a pet nowdays; it's going to decay and be gone, and besides, headstones were expensive and folks just didn't have the money for anything permanent. Folks were buried on the family farm or the local church cemetery. A headstone may or may not have been erected.

Then geneology got involved. That's when folks got to inquiring and wanted to know.

If... someone digs up something, or finds something, that are bones and not identifiable as animals, by all means, immediately call authorities. I was involved in a cemetery resurrection (cemetery totally grown up and had to be hacked through to restore) where we found bones laying on the ground. We knew already that someone (we knew who) had gone into the cemetery years before with a grader and gathered up headstones in a pile and abandoned them, leaving the graves without stones.

Anyway, after finding bones scattered across an area of the cemetery, I called the local sheriff. He went over on the weekend and gathered bones and information. Though I never got an official report, I did hear from him that they were possibly human/possibly animal. I don't care. I did what I felt was right and was done.

If you find bones, back far away and call authorities.

Noodle

 

[Seamuss]

Anthropology, now there's an idea for a hobby.

 

[curbdiggercarl57]

Never found any, I just don't dig close to where I buried them.
Carl

 

[truckinbutch]

On our family farm we have two abandoned cemetaries with markers ranging from sandstone to elaborate granite and marble monuments . Groundhogs and livestock have taken their toll of them over the years for lack of family interest . We don't molest them , but , neither is it incumbent upon us to preserve monuments that the original families have no interest in .
An adjacent farm has an older plot with sandstone markers , mostly toppled and sunk subsurface in a pasturefield . The rest of the stones were placed face dowm to form a new walkway into the main house on the property at the direction of a senator that owned the property in the late '40's to mid '50's .

 

[[email protected]]

Here's what I did.....
When I was at a popular beach on a summer long weekend, I found remains while looking for arrow heads. There were people all around and luckily no one found what I saw and I covered the remains up. I then went to the Provincial park police who have a couple of Archies on staff. I lead them to the spot and they were quite pleased on how I had hidden the bones and told me it was definitely pre-contact remains and thanked me very much. After the weekend was over and I went back to the city, I called the government Archies and told them what I had found. The head guy ended up giving me sh*t for not calling them first! When I phoned to find out more info on the excavation of the remains, they wouldn't tell me anything or didn't even thank me for doing the right thing. I still don't know anything about my find and these guys are supposed to be public servants?

If and when this happens to me again, I will now be calling up the nearest Indian reserve and will let the Natives deal will their own ancestors. After all the years of being harassed by the Archies, I will NOT be calling them!
Here is a picture and I hope this does not offend anyone but it is life and this is possible for any of you to stumble across. I still think that this was cool and I am glad that I found them and not some punks who may have caused damage.
It is important that you DO something and not walk away.
Dave.

 

[lostcauses]

Muddyhandz what in the photo you posted says the bones are human?

 

[[email protected]]

Muddyhandz what in the photo you posted says the bones are human?

The bones were identified as such by both the park police and the government archies. I was told that they were at least pre-contact by the park archies.
Dave.

 

[Noodle]

On our family farm we have two abandoned cemetaries with markers ranging from sandstone to elaborate granite and marble monuments . Groundhogs and livestock have taken their toll of them over the years for lack of family interest . We don't molest them , but , neither is it incumbent upon us to preserve monuments that the original families have no interest in .
An adjacent farm has an older plot with sandstone markers , mostly toppled and sunk subsurface in a pasturefield . The rest of the stones were placed face dowm to form a new walkway into the main house on the property at the direction of a senator that owned the property in the late '40's to mid '50's .

That's awful!

Good for you, Muddyhandz. Great to see some folks take responsibility.

Makes one wonder what will happen to our graves when we're gone...

 

[greydigger]

Graves?
When I am gone I hope they cut me up and use whatever they can.
Got a belly full of beer, ears full of nonsense, eyes that have seen too much but maybe someone can use them.
Heart hardened by life. Tempered by a wife.
Anything else they can find useful - welcome to it. I don't need it.
Dump my ashes into the sea. Begone with me.

Grey

 

[Noodle]

Greydigger,
Better leave one of those new-fangled things called last wishes, or something like that. Otherwise, you're going to be pickled and buried like the rest of us.

Noodle

P.S. For all wondering souls, there is never an "a" in CEMETERY. So you can quit guessing.

 

[truckinbutch]

Graves?
When I am gone I hope they cut me up and use whatever they can.
Got a belly full of beer, ears full of nonsense, eyes that have seen too much but maybe someone can use them.
Heart hardened by life. Tempered by a wife.
Anything else they can find useful - welcome to it. I don't need it.
Dump my ashes into the sea. Begone with me.

Grey

Prop me up beside the jukebox when I die ... I'm with you ,Bro . I have an escrowe account in place to fund a party along with Garth's video of the dance .

 

[lastleg]

Tell that to the Egyptians.

 

[kenley]

I found a skelton in N.W. Texas while Jeeping in a dry Gultch. the local Sheriff determined that the person died in the 1888-1894 era. Further investigation revealed that two people were present at his demise. They said one was probably a native american (Indian) and the other a caucasion with a mask. All this from an old pile of bones. It is hard to believe how science has evolved over the years.



Finding a silver bullet in the body contributed to solving the mystery.

 

[edflower]

Kenley-- Was it the Lone Ranger and Tonto?!?

Ed