On December 18, 2014 the New Acadia Project crew and a group of student volunteers cleared brush from a small graveyard in a wooded area in Iberia Parish in order to conduct remote sensing. Although well known to local residents and the property owner, the graveyard had been abandoned and was overgrown. Of the five marked burials and vaults in the graveyard, only one headstone has an inscription. The burial of Jules Berard dates from 1888. The objective of remote sensing is to locate unmarked burials potentially associated with the 1765 settlement of New Acadia.
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| The New Acadia Project crew and volunteers on December 18. |
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| An abandoned and overgrown graveyard near Bayou Teche. |
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| The graveyard after it was cleared. |
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After clearing the cemetery, the crew returned on December 20
to conduct remote sensing. |
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Leaves and small branches were removed with rakes to
inspect the surface in preparation for remote sensing.
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| A total station was used to establish a site grid. |
The grid was laid out for remote sensing. |
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Grid lines were marked with wooden
stakes and plastic flags. |
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| The Cesium Magnetometer was expertly assembled. |
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| Setting up the Cesium Magnetometer. |
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| Using the magnetometer to collect data along transects. |
Remote sensing with a Cesium Magnetometer.
Analysis of the data collected from remote sensing is still in process. Preliminary results, however, indicate several subsurface anomalies in and around the graveyard. Only one of these anomalies is a known grave associated with a headstone.
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One of the areas surveyed with the magnetometer, showing a
magnetic anomaly not associated with a marked grave. |
