I spent $300 on a ground penetrating radar rental and it saved me from digging into a burial site

Was doing a test trench for a housing development near an old mission in Santa Fe and decided to rent a GPR unit for a day. Found 4 unmarked graves about 2 feet down, which would have been a total disaster if I'd just started digging. Has anyone else used GPR before breaking ground on a sensitive site?

3 comments

3 Comments

anthonykim21d ago

Buddy of mine was putting a fence up on his property outside Flagstaff and hit something solid with the post hole digger. Turned out to be a human skull from an old Navajo burial that nobody knew was there. Two years later he's still dealing with tribal councils and state archaeologists and the fence still isn't done.

nora_campbell6621d ago

Oh come on, is it really that big of a deal? People dig up old bones all the time and it's usually just a minor paperwork headache.

the_lisa21d ago

But have you actually looked at what kind of bones we're talking about here, @nora_campbell66? The difference between disturbing a 200-year-old unmarked grave and, say, a prehistoric burial site is pretty huge. That paperwork headache can turn into federal charges if it's Native American remains, thanks to NAGPRA. Plus, some of these "old bones" might be from crime victims that no one ever found. It's not just about filling out forms when you're talking about disrupting someone's final resting place, even if they've been there for centuries. And let's be real, if someone dug up your great-great-grandma's bones without asking, you'd probably want more than just a receipt for the inconvenience.