Last week we spent the day working in a Hampshire graveyard assisting our new starter, Harry Ower, with his MSc research project. The objective of the day was to use surveying techniques including Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) and Global Positioning Systems (GPS) to map out areas of the graveyard. Specifically, we were trying to establish whether apparently empty parts of the graveyard were actually locations of unmarked mass graves.

The survey required desk study review of historic maps and existing data, preplanning, attention to detail, meticulous information gathering, data interpretation and also impeccable behaviour and respect for our surroundings, all attributes we are well used to in our daily environmental surveying projects.

Early indications have highlighted several areas of significant soil disturbance which will be the subject of further targeted investigation. If confirmed, the findings will hopefully result in the public acknowledgment of these rediscovered graves and will contribute to the overall understanding of funerary practices with regards to the mass burial of individuals who have died as a result of conflict, disease or poverty. Watch this space!