HINDS COUNTY, MS (Mississippi News Now) -
At least four graves have been unearthed at a construction site in Hinds County, just off Tinnin Road, northwest of Clinton.
The graves are believed to go back to the 1830s and belong to the Gale family. One tombstone found nearby belonged to James B. Gale, who was born April 14, 1822 and died September 6, 1858 at the age of 36. Another belonged to John Gale.
When workers were digging to build a new house, the back hoe struck an iron casket, or the graves might not have been found. David Abbott, an archaeologist with the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, said the developers did the right thing by contacting him.
"So they followed protocol perfectly with that. And wanted to make it clear who had jurisdiction over the historic grave site, and tracked us down. We want to be able to move this and have everyone who was buried here safely reburied somewhere else," said Abbott.
Experts from Mississippi State University and some of their students will be brought in to evaluate the grave sites and use the find as a teaching tool.
"They are being taken to Mississippi State to be analyzed, clean them, and they are going to re-box them for burial," said Abbott.
The graves will be moved to a nearby cemetery of the same vintage, 1830 to 1860, and be buried there.
The developers will be allowed to continue and build a house at the location.
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