Researchers collect data at a rural cemetery as part of the community project. (Photo: University of Lethbridge)

By Justin Goulet

U of L teams with Vulcan County on project to locate lost graves

Nov 6, 2023 | 2:10 PM

VULCAN COUNTY, AB – The University of Lethbridge (U of L) and Vulcan County have teamed up for a project aimed at honouring and protecting the past.

As part of the project, titled Locating Missing Grave Sites using Remote Piloted Aircraft Systems, advanced geospatial technology will be used to locate and document potentially lost grave sites.

One of the goals is to enrich the understanding of local history and provide a respectful approach to cemetery management.

Christopher Northcott of Vulcan County said in a news release, “Unmarked graves have posed a significant challenge for rural communities for years.”

Northcott noted, “In Vulcan County, many of the cemeteries, which were associated with small towns, are now the responsibility of the municipalities and local service organizations to maintain, and many of these cemeteries have markers that have gone missing or were never recorded.”

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He continued, “The absence of accurate records and mapping has not only hindered cemetery expansion but made it more likely for historical graves to be unintentionally disturbed during excavations.”

Under the guidance of Dr. Craig Coburn, research intern Paul Novoseltsev and a team of U of L students will use a remote piloted aircraft system equipped with multispectral and thermal imaging technology, as well as terrain analysis using topography rendered from Structure from Motion (SfM), to locate missing graves throughout the county.

Novoseltsev said, “Using these technologies, we will be able to conduct non-destructive and cost-effective surveys of potential grave sites.”

He added, “We hope to be able to identify graves that may have been lost to time and, in the process, update municipal records and create detailed maps that will prevent future disturbances of these sacred sites.”

A $15,000 gift from Mitacs is helping to fund the project. Mitacs is a non-profit national research organization. The other half of funding is coming from municipal stakeholders, including Vulcan County, the villages of Carmangay, Lomond, and Milo. The Carmangay Historical Society, Carmangay Agricultural Society, Lions Club of Lomond, and the Lions Club of Milo made funding contributions to the project.

As of this publication, the project has nearly finished all required remotely piloted drone flights. Officials said this has generated “an enormous trove” of accurate location-referenced images that also overlay temperature variations. The U of L said the data will help establish cemetery profiles on local geographic information systems, identifying lost graves and areas where further investigation is needed. Officials added that local histories will be reviewed to complete the historical context for technical findings in the research component.

READ MORE: Lethbridge News Now.

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