PLATTE CITY, Mo. — On Friday, a pair of archaeologists discovered the remains of Platte City, Missouri, pioneers inside the overgrown Jones-Bane Cemetery.
"They emigrated here in the 1830s," explained Aimee Hanson, an archaeologist volunteering to document grave sites. "Baldwin Bane ... had the land patent for this area and owned the 160 acres around this area. They were some of the very first people to move into Platte City."
Hanson has been mapping the cemetery for the Copper Ridge Homeowner's Association, the group responsible for the maintenance of the property.
“I got a phone call, and I was like, 'Oh no, this is bad,'" explained Dave Rukavina, resident-at-large for Copper Ridge HOA.
In the last four years of work at the Jones-Bane Cemetery, Hanson is believed to have uncovered approximately 100 grave sites, including head and foot stones.
However, there's still much to unveil beneath overgrown thorn bushes and weeds.
"A lot of erosion forces come into play. We see some dumping and concrete blocks from the construction of the neighborhood," she said. "I think that people forgot that it was here. It’s kind of out of sight and out of mind. Nature takes over.”
Adam Kniffen, field archaeologist, said he jumped at the opportunity to help Hanson with this project.
“Aimee on our last project mentioned she was doing this, and I thought it was really cool and I wanted to help out," Kniffen said. "This is the eroded grave. I was just walking up, and there was a big scapula resting right there. I followed my instincts to look on the ground to find an answer, and I noticed two human vertebrae sticking out of the ground.”
Hanson and Kniffen followed protocol and contacted the Platte County Sheriff's Department.
"They treated it like a crime scene, just in case," Rukavina said.
After a few hours, the sheriff confirmed Kniffen's initial find was from an animal, while the remains on the ground belonged to the eroded grave.
Hanson was cleared to continue her work, but problems persisted with an eroded grave.
“We don’t believe that any of the remains are in any place other than where they were. There is always a chance that when we are dealing with these wooded areas, people or animals are coming through ... we could see some movement, but that’s not happening at this time," Hanson said. "Time is a bit more pressing than it used to be.
"When you are dealing with granite blocks and marble rather than dealing with human remains or anything that can become revealed, it means you are working in a much smaller time scale to preserve them."
The last burial in the cemetery is predicted to be in the 1980s. Developers of the neighborhood built around it.
Untouched for 30 years, the HOA is responsible for maintaining the sites for the remainder of their existence.
“There isn’t really a process we know about to go through, and if anybody does [know] a process, we would be grateful to know," Rukavina said. "We were told to fill it in and let Aimee do her job, and we will work to get it on the National Register [of Historic Places] to hopefully get more help."
Rukavina said maintaining the cemetery will be a lengthy and expensive process, so the HOA is hoping to find grants to help with maintenance and preservation.
Meanwhile, Hanson and Kniffen are trying to expedite their work within the parameters of archaeological ethics.
"You are looking at something you probably shouldn't be, and the owner of them probably wouldn't want you to be," Kniffen explained. "You are witnessing what shouldn’t be witnessed.
"I think when people are interred, they don’t plan for people like me to stumble upon an open grave. I think a lot of it just comes from respect and wanting to respect.”
Hanson agreed. She added, "This is our history and the history of the community, and we can take care of it together.”
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KSHB 41 reporter Ryan Gamboa covers Miami County in Kansas and Cass County in Missouri. Share your story idea with Ryan.