Abstract

Cemeteries and burial sites are cultural features that transcend time and ethnicity. A community's regard for its dead members, revealed in the treatment of their remains, may be observed long after the persons and the community have ceased to exist. Individual resting places are not only sacred spaces, but often the only physical remains of a former community. Over the past decade, the Historic Resources Branch of Manitoba Culture, Heritage and Citizenship has examined a number of cemeteries and burial sites using an electromagnetic surveying technique. This non-obtrusive technology, generally implemented as a part of a heritage resource impact assessment, provides locational data for cemetery restoration projects and First Nations band councils who are developing land management procedures. This paper discusses the techniques, results and future of electromagnetic surveying in the context of historic archaeology.