Seven ancient coffins containing human remains were unearthed near the North Dakota governor’s residence during a routine security upgrade, state officials confirmed this week.
The discovery at the Bismarck property, home to Gov. Kelly Armstrong, triggered a months-long excavation that archaeologists only wrapped up on Sept. 14, according to Brandon Solberg, the state Office of Management and Budget’s facilities management director. Solberg said that the research team flagged more than 80 areas of interest during their fieldwork and has since begun cataloging findings, with analysis expected to finish early next year.
The remains appear to belong to two women, two men, two teenage boys, and one toddler, reports said. Officials are now coordinating with a local funeral home to handle the remains before reinterring them at another cemetery this spring.
The burial site sits in what was once Bismarck’s first cemetery, active from 1873 to 1877, though most graves from that era were believed to have been moved decades ago. Kara Haff, spokesperson for the State Historical Society of North Dakota, told The Bismarck Tribune that the 1880s exhumation effort was thought to be comprehensive.
“They had thought in the 1880s that they had exhumed everybody,” Haff said.
She added that period newspaper coverage suggested the job was nearly finished. “There’s an article that says ‘we’ve moved everybody but two, and we expect that work to be done within the next week.'”
The security project that led to the discovery was approved by state lawmakers at a cost of $2.35 million, covering fence and driveway extensions at the governor’s residence. The archaeological work added an estimated $155,000 to the total.
Most of the original cemetery’s burials were relocated to St. Mary’s Cemetery and Fairview Cemetery during the 1880s, according to the Bismarck Monitor. The seven coffins and an empty wooden box found this year suggest that relocation was incomplete.
Solberg said the research team continues its cataloging work as officials plan for spring reinterment.