Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 11, 1992 TAG: 9203110317
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
Katherine Beidleman said she expects that total to reach 70 or 75 before the excavation is finished.
The remains, some in pine boxes, are believed to include those of a Confederate soldier. They were found near the north end of the prison grounds, about six to eight feet below ground level, she said.
"One of the large excavating machines ran into them and the workmen reported it to Ethyl Corp., which called me to come and check," she said. "I found they were human remains, skulls and bones."
She said workers initially discovered two boxes containing several skulls and bones in late January.
"We have been uncovering new coffins and boxes on into this week," she said. "We're doing it archaeologically, so it goes very slowly."
Excavation began last year after the state closed the 200-year-old prison and moved the inmates to a new one in Greensville County. The Richmond-based Ethyl Corp. purchased the 16-acre prison from the state for $5 million.
Wrecking Corporation of America is demolishing the prison and regrading the ground for Ethyl.
According to old Penitentiary maps, the burial site was outside the prison walls in 1865, Beidleman said. The walls were extended to the existing locations sometime before 1905, she said.
A law on the books in 1878 allowed the superintendent of the Penitentiary to bury convicts on land adjacent to the prison while officials sought an alternative burial ground, she said.
As many as eight skulls and bones were found in several 2 1/2-by-3-foot boxes, and some skeletons were found inside 19th-century-era pine coffins.
"Right now, we think that the ones buried in the coffins may have been convicts, and so far there are about 12 of those," she said. "From all indications, they were buried after 1878."
Found in one of the boxes containing multiple skulls and bones was a button from an unidentified Confederate Army staff officer, Beidleman said.
"We think the button may have been a souvenir or the individual may have been a [Confederate] veteran and the button was buried with him," she said.
The remains will be shipped to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington for analysis, officials said.
by CNB