Headstones found at construction site may not mean it's a burial site

CARROLL COUNTY, Ind. (WLFI) - Work continued like normal on parts of the Hoosier Heartland Highway construction Tuesday. Except work has stopped on an approximately 25-square-yard area after crews found something interesting. Friday morning workers found a group of headstones.

"They were digging up in this area to pretty much clear for the new road," INDOT Spokesperson Matt Dietchley said. "That is when they discovered the tombstones along with a lot of other things like bricks, concrete, and a lot of junk."

Crews were working on the portion of the highway from Delphi to Logansport at the time of the discovery. Deitchely said initial discussions give him the idea the site is not a burial site, but possibly a fill site.

However, he said if it is a burial site there are steps they will take.

"If it is we will do things like go a different direction, or we'll work with communities to determine what we need to do," Dietchley said. "It is a very sensitive subject, and something we want to treat with a lot of respect."

The previous property owner tells project supervisors he did use the land as a fill site. He dumped concrete pieces, including headstones, to level out the land. The site will still be investigated by the State Department of Archaeology.

"If you look at it you can see it looks like a bunch of tombstones," Dietchley said. "It doesn't look like any kind of burial site, but we still want to be 100 percent sure. We go through the State Archaeology Department and various other channels to make sure this is what we think it is, which is a fill site."

Dietchley said this will not push back any deadlines on the construction. The previous owner said he got the headstones from a family business which makes them.