Holland Patent Resident Cory Wydysh Surveys Centuries-Old Burial Site

Related Media

Cory Wydysh (background) operating ground penetrating radar equipment with colleague Phil Davidowsky.

ITHACA, NY (05/31/2013)(readMedia)-- Holland Patent resident and Ithaca College senior physics major Cory Wydysh was part of a four-member Ithaca College research team that used ground penetrating radar and other remote sensing tools to search for hidden gravesites in Dansville, New York. Headed by associate professor of physics Michael "Bodhi" Rogers, the team had come to the attention of the Dansville Area Historical Society because it explores archaeological sites with radio signals, not shovels.

"To excavate a site with picks and shovels, you're essentially destroying it," Rogers said. "Plus, if you're not sure what's under the surface, knowing where to start digging is pretty much hit and miss. With our radar and magnetometer techniques, we can pinpoint the areas we want to look at and, once we've investigated our areas of interest, leave the site the way we found it. Our methods are also significantly less expensive than the ones used in traditional digs."

The goal of Rogers' student research team was to find burial sites dating back to 1797, when the first death in Dansville was recorded. Residents in that early time had no designated area to bury the deceased individual, so they interred the body behind a house near the main street. The area soon became the village's burial site. In 1847, however, the village designed a separate burial facility, intending to transfer the remains there from the original site. Not all the remains, though, got moved.

Now that the original site is a park, village officials plan to erect a monument on it and add new sidewalks and lights. But first, they want to make sure their construction projects won't disturb the unmarked gravesites. To help them do that, Wydysh and his colleagues spent two days using their specialty equipment to examine the ground for soil shifts, a good indicator of a gravesite. With the fieldwork complete, the team is now analyzing their data in order to design a map showing the locations of the unmarked gravesites.

"Our work in Dansville gave me an understanding of how real-world research is conducted," Wydysh said. "The research I'd done previously was isolated science, confined to the lab. The Dansville project was nice because members of the community would directly approach us and ask what we were doing. Witnessing their interest made me really feel that the work I was doing was important and motivated me to collect good data."

Using experimental methods and proper data analysis to give light to curiosities about the world is what physics is all about, Wydysh added.

"It's refreshing to use these skills to help answer questions from others, like the people of Dansville, and hopefully spark an interest about the inquisitive power of physics."

For more information, contact Keith Davis, assistant director of media relations at Ithaca College, at (607) 274-1153 or kdavis@ithaca.edu.

[[PHOTO CAPTION]]

Cory Wydysh (background) operates ground penetrating radar equipment while student colleague Phil Davidowsky (foreground) operates a magnetometer system to find unmarked gravesites in Dansville, New York.

[[PHOTO CREDIT]]:

Michael "Bodhi" Rogers