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On our first day of cemetery data collection it was a fresh/cold Friday morning around 11 p.m. as the cold front lasted all throughout the afternoon. When Dr. Rowe arrived at the cemetery she proceeded to take out all the equipment that we will be using for the remainder of the semester, which include: a ruler (to measure the graves), a permanent marker (to check mark the graves that are completed), and a legend (of all the possible graves that would be available to input into KoBoToolbox). The only tool that we must bring ourselves is our cellular phone or device with internet connection to input the data of the grave. One of the main tools that we are using is the total station to map the grave site. that tool is delicate and takes precise instructions to set up or else will not properly function, this device shoots a laser to the prism that is used to mark the grave, this data is then stored in the total station which in return is used to mark the graves. Dr. Rowe has also used the drone to have an aerial view of the cemetery, as well as the GPR, which is penetrating radar that is also used to properly mark the graves.

on the first day I was operating the Total station along with other classmates that where handling the prism. This was a good day for data collection because it was not a typical hot Texas day which enabled us as a team to collect and map a good number of graves on our first day of data collection. Based on my observation it is amazing how old this graveyard is I have come across a couple of graves from the 1800’s, the work that is being conducted in this cemetery is astonishing and helpful not only to the individuals that have been laid to rest, but to their families and the community as a whole, this public archaeology mapping is essential to learn more about our past in our Culturally diverse Rio Grande Valley, upon further investigation I have also stumbled upon a grave in which the man was from Sweden the epitaph was written in Swedish, in addition the grave was also from the 1800’s.

Overall the first day of data collection had a profound impact on me, because it seems as if the cemetery is split in two just like our society, there are the graves that have lush green grass around them that are mowed weekly and watered almost daily with marble and granite headstones, while the other half which is the help that we are mapping is dry with weeds and dirt covering a lot of the headstones, the only clean graves are the ones that the family of the deceased come to pay their respects and offer maintenance to the graves. the graves remind me of the forgotten people of the Rio Grande Valley that in my opinion are the poor that lives in colonias and respectively had a very humble lifestyle.

Marginalization and inequalities occur all over the United States continent since, after the conquerization of the land and people, the new laws and enforcements discriminate minority races. In particular, by viewing the graves and the landscapes physical conditions in Hidalgo County Public Cemetery (HCPC) we can witness such aspects of neglect and marginalization from the other cemeteries. To express the findings of marginalization and inequalities the project needs to explore the neighboring cemeteries. What should be compared is the date range of the burials, race types, maintenance of the site, maintenance of individual graves, and difference of used grave markers. With all that, we can address the issue of diversity to find if racism has taken place in this mainly Hispanic descended area.

Date range of burials can help view the start of burials and the end. Has this location filled up leading to the need to start other cemeteries nearby? Or did the other cemeteries also began burials at the same time? How old are the decedents? In Hidalgo County Public Cemetery Project (HCPCP) there are some burials that have been relocated to this area. Why where they moved? Was there a renewal movement at their previous location? In all, the date can help view the shift of people migrating into the region and the past race as well as class that dwelled within Edinburg, Texas.

Maintenance of site shows how the owner has the number of funds gained from the burials to continue maintaining the land clear and clean. When the HCPCP began the area had no restroom facilities unlike the neighboring cemetery Hillcrest who has a building. Even more, most of the road is dirt road whereas Hillcrest has paved roads. There were no trash cans in the location when first starting the project. Now there is one. In fact, now there is more maintenance of yard work compared to the first day of the project. Moreover, there is no inputted sprinkler system in HCPC but there is in Hillcrest. therefore, we can state that the owner does not have the funds like how Hillcrest has. Is it because HCPC was cheaper to purchase compared to purchasing a grave plot at Hillcrest. This can help figure out the class of the region.

Maintenance of individual graves can explain reasons why the location looks like it does. The amount of people who still visit their buried family members by leaving offerings (such as flowers) gives a glimpse of what family members are still present in the area. It can also help determine if some have been forgotten or have no determination of who they are.  In HCPC there are some burials with no names and date of birth as well as death. Did someone know this person? Is this location a place for lower income, therefore, the family members had no money to buy a durable gravestone? Has the time caused failure to remember where their family member was buried? For sure, it is a lower class graveyard. Do the other cemeteries also have poor grave monuments? Also, have some of the there burials been of people that no one recalled since their death, which caused the city to bury them in this location.

Grave markers can determine the type of class the family and deceased stood on. Here there are some that are just a wood marker, with no name and date. Has there been a previous maker that was stolen or broken? Or was that the original? Also, there are a lot of grave markers that are personally made rather than store bought. Did they want to make them themselves or was it more inexpensive than buying one? We can analyze the type of material used like if its something you can easily find lying around the house. For example, fencing made out of house bricks. This could have been leftover material from their house. There are some who seemed very expensive like those made of marble or granite. How many of there stone monuments are there in the area? Compare to the other cemeteries. This can determine the number of well-off people in the region.

It is how Paul A. Shackel conducts his research in New Philadelphia with the assurance  that “the history of racism on the landscape is obvious (Shackel, 2007: 252).” With all these questions we can answer if there is a separation of class and race. Then, we can raise the consciousness of the landscape history in order acknowledge the city’s cultural aspects, classification, and historical shifts (Paul Mullins, 2007: 97). We can then ask ourselves if there have been improvements in racial norms and marginalization or is there a maintenance. It is obvious that there is marginalization within this area. The researchers are here to address these inequalities and make aware to the public of the graveyard that has been forgotten.

Our media technology continues to advance by creating new forms, engagements, and access towards it. As explained by Neil Postman, these new inventions have created ecological adaptations, making the people adjust to the new ways (Bonacchi, 2017: pp.2). With this, digital engagement seems to be the aim of public archaeology in order to give the audience wider access to the resource and research that are conducted. In fact, digital engagement goes beyond locals having access to the data for the internet is international. Even more, the storage of information is great because there are diverse programs one can engage in with little to no money. At first, one might struggle to find a good web source, but you can switch around to diverse apps or tools. Also, the online storage makes updates of data and digital forms easier to conduct compared to previous usages like pen and paper. In all, HCPCP would be better off digitally since our society has been moving forward with improvements in our mass media technology.

Nowadays, since adolescence, the younger people have been raised with technology.  They have embraced technology at all times, creating a change towards our methods of teaching, performing and interacting. This social change is worldwide, therefore; there are more international connections than ever seen before.  It is great news for archaeologist because it helps them expand their connections, access to materials and providing information worldwide. In specific, the HCPCP can become collaborative with the younger civilization. I have always thought that to better the nation, the young students should be pushed and have access to newer inventions so once they grow up they can develop more complex technology that will better our civilization. The way HCPCP can be helpful to students is by showing them ways to store historical information, maintain it and accessing the past. Later on one might find such technique used as well, and also start to store past records digitally. Yet, that is not the most important aspects of making HCPCP data digitalized. The beauty of this is so the students and people can have access to the information.

Kevin Garstki states that holding or studying the full artifact itself brings you back to the actual individual that made it (Garstki, 2017: 727). Here he is talking about a 3D object that can be physical but as well as digital. If HCPCP would make the data in 3D mode and make it accessible online, the people can get a better glimpse and understanding of the material and information collected. The project can go certain ways. Firstly, having a better aerial view of the landscape can give the people understanding the location of the cemetery. What kind of landscape is the cemetery? What part of the world is it located? What else is nearby? How big is the cemetery? Is there a pattern within the burials? We can also see the nature of the land and where each individual decedent is located. This will help some find a certain individual as well as the type of burial. Another possible 3D model is each individual burial is by taking a panoramic picture of the monuments. The information can be stored to view the condition of the monuments. We can also capture the diverse styles and how they interconnect. Furthermore, the number of offerings will be present in order to determine the cultural background, if the burial was a memorial to the family members or friends, and can help determine the age and gender of the decedent. That last point is nice to know in case the grave marker has been damaged or missing, this can help identify the decedent. It will be a great way to store history and information in case the cemetery values and materials get damaged. Lastly, HCPCP can get an underground 3-D x-ray of the burials. With that image, the researchers can analyze the skeletons decays, burial positions and once again gender and age. We can also view if there are other unmarked burials. Again this will help see patterns and cultures.

All sounds great but the downfall is having a lack of access to creating the 3D models. The time doesn’t really matter since HCPCP researchers are college students and professor. What matters is funds. With limited funds, the project can only do so much. There are some free digital technologies around the internet, but are not as high quality as other priced software applications. In addition, the 3D X-ray scanner machine is expensive. It is actually a new technology used to scan the ground not only by anthropologist but as well as armed forces. The HCPCP researchers might even face trouble with the decedent’s families who might not want to see or have someone bother the dead. These are a few of difficulties that the project faces when trying to make the information 3D.

For researchers, the ability to engage with others is the main goal. This way their research and data can be further used by others. When doing research there is never ending inquiries.  So by providing the information publicly, others can use the material for further studies. Also, storing history is helpful for a person to find their background roots. It is just a nice way to give someone something to look back on.   

The project might become more collaborative by inviting members of the public to do research on their own, and send us relevant information (that we then digitize and add to our database/website). I’m thinking newspaper articles and photographs of the deceased, journals, deeds or other paper documents that are related to them. The digital newspaper archives are very difficult to read online, and many of the Hispanic names here are so similar that it would be helpful for the families to provide us with specific articles, or if they could find the relevant articles online for us.

We could become more co-creative by perhaps making a “digital ofrenda” with pictures of the deceased and biographies written by the family, with pictures of their family members attached. The idea being that the families create the content and make the connections, we only provide the hosting platform. I like this idea personally, because so many of the graves have pictures of the deceased that aren’t visible anymore, or won’t be visible for long. The families wanted their loved one’s images to be remembered, we should honor and facilitate that desire.

The information that will be the most valuable to the community will be that which makes the occupants of the cemetery come back to life, in a sense. And that information is most likely in the possession of the families. I am sure families would appreciate the chance to tell their own stories and make their own interpretations.

The benefits 3D technology can provide to public archaeology projects are many! 3D technology can help us to accurately recreate real objects as digital models, which can then be shared, manipulated, printed, analyzed and many other things. 3D technology allows for an unlimited level of creativity in making admittedly boring data become relevant and interesting to the public. Not only is 3D tech about making physical models that can be shared and manipulated, but its also about making digital models. The possibilities when working with digital models are practically endless, and the more ubiquitous virtual reality software becomes the more creative we can become about how we use digital models of archaeological artifacts and sites. There are some pitfalls: like unscrupulous individuals making copies of artifacts and trying to pass them off as real; or someone using a digital model of an artifact in a disrespectful manner; or someone using our models to spread misinformation. Or lesser pitfalls exist as well, such as if the proliferation of artifact copies causes the public to value the original artifacts less, or if we make an error in our models that then becomes accepted as truth.

It may be possible to recreate the headstones or graves themselves, especially given the incredible variety in handmade grave markers: pictures alone simply do not do them justice! Additionally, it seems obvious that this cemetery is not static at all, the families are constantly coming in and redecorating, or making new grave markers, or the old grave markers are crumbling away as the families neglect them. We have a duty to preserve the cemetery as it exists now, and the most accurate and participatory method to do that is to recreate the grave markers digitally. Photographs alone are insufficient, I think. Further, this specific cemetery is unique. People in other areas of the world may experience the cemetery in a more immediate and visceral way if we can provide them with a digital representation of the cemetery itself. This makes what we do even more valuable, not only are we documenting and preserving, we are enabling a virtual personal experience with the cemetery for members of the public.