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BU archaeologists excavating Thomas Cemetery graves

The 18 gravesites in the Thomas Cemetery are now being excavated by archaeologists from Binghamton University.

The oldest grave in the cemetery along Route 12A, according to tombstone dates, is 1842; the most recent is dated 1917, Versaggi said.

The developer of a Price Chopper grocery next door to the cemetery engaged the services of BU's Public Archaeology and the Thomas J. Shea Funeral Home Inc. to oversee exhumation of the bodies and eventual reburial.

The funeral home will oversee reburial in approximately the same location where the cemetery is now, but at a lower elevation. The cemetery is located on a hill, which will be taken down to ground level.

Both professional and forensic archaeologists from BU are involved in the project. Besides removing the bodies, archaeologists are conducting historical research on the cemetery and accurate mapping of grave location and confirming headstone information....
Read entire article at Press Connects