[AirForceMom]

They knew there was an old cemetery there but were surprised to find people buried there? You'd think they would have done some checking before digging in the area.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

That's what I was thinking, too. They knew they were digging on a cemetery site, and a very old one at that. Now they're acting baffled that they found some old graves from the 1800s. Not too bright considering the history of the area was known.

[Smokin' Joe]

A ground penetrating radar survey would likely have revealed the presence of graves, occupied and otherwise, to be compared with the records of exhumations done previously. Any 'hits' unaccounted for could have been checked on site.

IMHO, this is just poor planning.

I find it amazing that a school administrator was surprised by the find...well, maybe not.

[mewzilla]

They may not have wanted to do some checking because that might have meant bringing in the archaeologists earlier. Though if federal money is used anywhere in this project, I would've thought that the archaeological survey was required.