Workers at the construction site of a new soccer stadium that will be home to the USL Championship's Indy Eleven in Indianapolis unearthed nearly 100 instances of human remains spread across the six-acre site.
According to the local Fox affiliate, Keystone Group has submitted a reinterment plan to designate Mount Jackson Cemetery as the final resting place for dozens of remains recovered during the Keystone Group-led redevelopment of the Diamond Chain land on Kentucky Avenue the southwest side of downtown Indy.
Construction crews have now been working alongside the Indiana Department of Natural Resources Department of Historic Preservation and Archaeology.
All of the human remains and other burial objects were recovered and transferred to Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis' physical anthropology department for further analysis and safe storage.
The re-internment plan has been formally submitted to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources and the Department of Historic Preservation and Archaeology.
The proposal states that a total of 97 designated burial shafts were found and excavated, with 90 of those containing confirmed human remains. An additional 78 isolated human remains were “mapped and individually collected.”
One body had been embalmed and displayed evidence of smallpox infection.
"We reached out and said we have some space here that may work that may be historically appropriate given the histories of both cemeteries and culturally appropriate as well,” Jeff Harris, director of communications for the Wayne Township Trustee’s Office, told Fox. ”Keystone would come in and do the re-interments themselves and provide Wayne Township with significant investment to help us restore the cemetery, fix headstones and cement and other issues that we have here and create a perpetual fund so we can take care of this going forward.”
Officials have indicated that an untold number of additional remains are likely to be found at the Diamond Chain site.
Last week, Indianapolis offered to purchase the nearly 20-acre Diamond Chain property from Keystone Group in order to create a memorial or park. Instead of the original downtown site, mayor Joe Hogsett’s proposal involves constructing a brand-new $220 million soccer stadium on the property of the current Indianapolis Heliport on Indy’s southeast side. The site is yet to be decommissioned by the Indianapolis Airport Authority and FAA.
