Old Cemetery, Clarksville, Ohio 2003

Site Type: Euroamerican Cemetery Age: Mid 1800s-Late 20th Century
Location: Clinton Co., Ohio Survey Type: Vertical Magnetic Gradient
Instrument: Geoscan Research FM 36 Fluxgate Gradiometer Data Density: 8 readings/meter; 50 cm transect interval
Surface Conditions: mowed grass Area Surveyed: One 20x20-meter block (400m2)

Reoprt:

Burks, Jarrod

2003    A Brief Report on a Magnetic Geophysical Survey at the Old Cemetery (Cli-213-7), Clarksville, Ohio. Contract Report #2003-9, Ohio Valley Archaeological Consultants, Worthington, Ohio.

 

Cemeteries sometimes become lost or forgotten. In 2003 the 'Old Cemetery' in Clarksville, Ohio had become lost, or at least the graves had, but not forgotten. Prior to developing the property next door, a local business was encouraged by the people of Clarksville to explore the local historical knowledge that a cemetery was once situated at the corner of two prominent roads in town. Local stories suggest that in the 1980s the headstones of the Old Cemetery were removed and placed in concrete, lying down, so as to preserve them from further damage by vandals. And, to facilitate mowing of the property, the depressions left by some of the graves were filled in. Today, little except for the old headstones in concrete is left to indicate that an old township cemetery once filled the grassy lot.

 
 To help identify the possible (likely) presence of unmarked, intact graves, one 20x20 meter block of magnetic gradient data was collected to the east of the 'sidewalk' of headstones. This area was chosen so as to limit the magnetic effects of nearby buildings and fences.

 

Numerous magnetic anomalies are present in the data, including dipolar and both positive and negative monopolar anomalies. Some of these anomalies approximate the size of a grave shaft--about 2.5x6.5 feet.

The image to the right is an interpretation of what possibly lies under the sod in the grassy lot based on the magnetic survey. A number of grave-sized anomalies (both positive and negative monopolar) are arranged in rows that roughly parallel the road to the east. Other possible grave anomalies are aligned with magnetic north. Many of the small dipolar anomalies are probably the remains of graveside furniture, such as wreaths and veterans markers (most of which have little bits of iron in them).

 

While data from a second kind of geophysical instrument, or from excavation/soil coring, would help bolster this interpretation, the alignment of grave-sized anomalies is a big clue that unmarked graves are present in the purported location of the Old Cemetery in Clarksville, Ohio. But why are some of the possible graves positive monopolar anomalies and others negative monopolar anomalies? A likely explanation lies with the kind of dirt used to backfill the depressions that once indicated the location of the old graves--the fill soils were probably of greater or lesser magnetism than the surrounding, intact soils.