Journal of History and Culture Journal of History and Culture

j o u r n a l o f h i s t o r y a n d c u l t u r e
the second excavation revealed a grave shaft. The first anomaly that was excavated was offset about 5 feet from the
headstone of Milo Wilson, Jr., which appeared to be in situ. We suggest that there may have been a delay between the
burial and the arrival of the grave marker, which led to the marker being placed slightly off the actual burial location.
The second anomaly that was excavated was located about 20 feet southeast of the first and was not associated with
any surface marker. Most of the anomalies were located in the main clearing of the cemetery.
Survey Layout
In February 2008, additional GPR data were acquired at Wyatt Chapel Cemetery, along with magnetometer
data. The main focus of this second data collection was to investigate a stratigraphic anomaly first identified on the
2007 data (Figure 4). In particular, we wanted to establish the boundaries of this anomaly and try to identify its
cause as either natural or anthropogenic. Prairie View A&M students and the city of Prairie View had worked to
clear the brush from the main clearing at the cemetery and removed much of the trash from the area in an effort
to help facilitate the gathering of data by the GPR team.
The area of interest was identified based on the 2007 data. The main clearing that contains the excavated
anomalies also shows a relatively deep stratigraphic anomaly. The real-time data display feature of the GPR system
was used to locate the anomaly from the 2007 data and determine the best new site for data acquisition.
A 2-D grid of GPR profiles was acquired in the main clearing (Figure 5). A rectangular plot 24 feet by 60
feet was staked off and squared, and the perimeter was defined with string. The coordinates of each corner of the
plot was obtained with a Garmin GPSMAP 60 handheld GPS unit, with accuracy of about 13 feet. The area was
cleared of overhanging brush and limbs so that the GPR cart could be pulled smoothly across the site without losing
contact with the ground. Stakes were placed along the perimeter line at increments of 2 feet and a string line was
placed between opposing stakes to ensure that each run was straight. The equipment was pushed along the string
line from the same starting line in each direction so that the lines were consistently North to South and East to West.
A total of 44 lines were acquired in the main clearing, with 13 North-South lines (Lines 1-13) perpendicular to 31
East-West lines (Lines 14-44).
All the data was acquired in one day, so the field conditions were constant. The data were processed using
GSSI’s RADAN software. Processing included adjusting time zero to the ground surface, converting the time sections
to depth using a dielectric of 17, and applying a gain function. Data were interpreted in ArcGIS and Google Viewer.
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