Caltrans is planning a project to improve a section of Hwy 395 near Lone Pine, California. The plan is to change the current two-lane highway into a four-lane highway. Caltrans had received notification from a Native American that there is a family cemetery near the location of the proposed South-bound lanes. In order to avoid future issues Caltrans was proactively working to find the actual location of the burial ground before it became a problem. (Modifying preliminary plans for the location of the freeway is less expensive than waiting until plans have been established and construction has begun.)
On
May 11 & 12, 2007 teams from Institute for Canine Forensics (ICF) joined
a Caltrans archaeologist to determine if a cemetery might be located within
the general area identified by the Native American family member. The graves
were not marked and the only information available was a general area and a
story that crushed blue glass beads had been scattered around the area of the
cemetery. The last Native American burial in that area had occurred in approximately
1926.
Only after the ICF team had searched and flagged the dog’s alerts in several locations could we start to see the graves. Some graves had stones around them that had possibly been dug up during the process of burial. In one case it is thought that a rock had been moved to mark a grave. All the ICF dogs alerted readily at this specific rock.
The blue flag is where the dogs alerted, orange flags are where beads were found. After the dogs had alerted we could "see" the grave.
Note
that the soil in the area is predominantly gray-colored sand. The presence of
the larger boulders possibly occurred while digging the graves. These boulders,
once unearthed, may have been left on the desert floor near the burial. In the
desert area surrounding the cemetery, the quantity of large rocks is significantly
diminished. ICF personnel were told that 100 years ago the topsoil would have
covered the ground approximately 10 cm in depth.
We found some blue glass beads as well as some red ones.
According to her great, great grandson, the last Native American woman to mourn in this area would grind blue beads and then cast them around the cemetery. Both blue and red beads were found in the area.
In
addition to the beads, the remains of an iron flathead shovel had been found
in the area East of the cemetery. After the ICF dogs had completed searching
and marking the area, the relative said that his great, great grandmother had
left a shovel in a bush on the outskirts of the cemetery.
The ICF Canine Maya is alerting within what we would later determine to be the cemetery area. Notice the large boulders and rocks near ground level. Upon further searching it became apparent that the general area of the cemetery contained a larger proportion of large above-ground boulders than the surrounding areas.
The
ICF Canine Rhea is alerting next to a rock that is thought to have been moved
to mark a grave.
Before ICF marked the graveyard area, the large rock above was thought to be on the extreme southern side of the cemetery. After the ICF dogs searched the area, it was determined to be near the center of the graveyard.
In the last picture the ICF Canine Jack is checking scent before he alerts
next to a creosote bush.
These bushes are of indeterminate age and were estimated, by the archeologists, to be up to 100 years old. This bush was outside the Southern edge of the cemetery.
The overall area identified by the ICF teams was larger than that initially thought by Caltrans. ICF dogs specified 13 alerts within the cemetery. A single flag was used to indicate an alert by multiple dogs within a 3-foot radius. Later information provided by the Native American relative confirmed that the cemetery held at least 12 relatives and that the area was at least 50’ x 50’ in size.