Archaeologists discovered a burial site on the grounds of the University of Virginia. The discovery was made during a survey in preparation for an expansion to the already existing UVa cemetery.
Stone and marble markers show where people were laid to rest more than a hundred years ago.
"We have uncovered evidence, approximately 30 individual interments within our project area," Benjamin Ford said. "We don't know the names of the individuals of the people who were buried here. We believe that burial area would have been used throughout the 1800's."
Roped outlines indicate where the grave shafts are located. The color of the dirt helped indicate the size of the grave.
"Right now our best lead on who might be buried here is a quote from 1898 in one of the university student periodicals," Ford said.
The quote reads :
"In old times, the university servants were buried on the north side of the cemetery, just outside of the wall."
It's from the son of the university's librarian at the time.
Some say there are reasons why the grave sites went unmaintained for so many years.
"They would have not been the prestigious leaders or would have not have been white, they would have been probably more impoverish," said UVa Anthropology Professor Gertrude Fraser.
Archaeologist will do more surveying on the site but have no plans to exhume remains.
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