2026/06/03 by Nikhil Arolkar, Larry D. Brown, Neelia Heath +3 · 1 voice
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Engineering · Social Sciences · #Archaeological Research and Protection #Geophysical Methods and Applications #Historical and Cultural Archaeology Studies
paper · doi:10.1002/arp.70055
openalex publication_date 2026/06/03 · openalex created_date 2026/06/04 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/22
ABSTRACT New Hope Cemetery, located in Uniontown, Alabama, has served as a burial site since 1858. Most burials lack gravestones or other identifying markers. In response to concerns from Black Belt Citizens Fighting for Health and Justice, a local citizens' organization from Uniontown, and other community leaders two ground penetrating radar (GPR) surveys were conducted at the cemetery in the summers of 2021 and 2022 to identify unmarked burials. GPR was chosen over other techniques due to its noninvasive nature, cost‐effectiveness, and previous success in detecting burials. Thunderstorms during the 2021 survey left large sections of the cemetery waterlogged, raising questions about the quality of the data collected. To assess the influence of water saturation on GPR data, one of the survey grids was resurveyed under dry conditions in 2022. The comparison revealed that not only was the water table higher in 2021, but only one burial was visible in vertical depth sections, compared with the eight burials identified in the same grid during dry weather conditions in 2022. During the 2022 survey, a total of 24 features with radar signals similar to burials were identified in the cemetery. Signals from 12 features were consistent with calibrated radar signals of burials with overlying grave ledgers, while the remaining 12 features are believed to represent burials without overlying ledgers. This study highlights the method's utility for locating unmarked burials and demonstrates how environmental conditions, such as rainfall, affect GPR data. Furthermore, our work underscores the value of community‐driven archaeology in documenting African American historical cemeteries and preserving cultural memory through noninvasive methods.