S.C. Officials Worried Graves Exposed By Drought Could Be Robbed
WSB-TV
December 22, 2007
Area: Columbia, SC
LAKE MARION, South Carolina - Drought conditions are exposing once-submerged graves in a manmade South Carolina lake, worrying state officials who fear they are targets for thieves.
Last week, officials found someone had broken into a century-old casket and stole a skull at a site in Lake Marion. It was one of dozens of graves recently uncovered by dry lake beds and worsening drought conditions.
"This is something that seriously needs to be addressed," state archaeologist Jonathan Leader said. "The state is being robbed blind."
Leader, of the South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology, said there is a demand for artifacts and a black market for skulls and bones.
Disturbing a grave and stealing artifacts is a crime. At least two legislators who have visited the exposed grave site said they will consider passing other laws, possibly restricting vehicles from the lake beds.
"I just consider this the most despicable act possible," said state Sen. Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston. "It just repulses any decent human being. You just wonder what type of person would do what has been done."
Near the cemetery, a tree trunk's roots are exposed, evidence of as much as three feet of erosion since the land was flooded in the 1940s to create Lakes Moultrie and Marion, where levels are also six feet lower than normal.
Officials said some graves appeared to be family plots. The Orangeburg County Coroner's Office has exhumed the remains of the exposed grave and will determine how old they are.
Leader estimated they were from the early 1800s to the 1930s.
Officials with state-owned utility Santee Cooper, which manages Lakes Marion and Moultrie, said 6,000 of the 7,000 graves were relocated before the lakes were formed. The state is receiving reports of uncovered graves every week, increasing the worry of how to patrol more land.
On Thursday, Leader took state Rep. David Umphlett out to an exposed grave site.
"We don't want to stop people from going out there," said Umphlett, R-Moncks Corner. "The problem is you always have a few bad apples."
Leader said the graves need to be dug up properly. Otherwise, "that's one less piece of history that tells us what was there," he said.
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