Archaeologists recovered seven coffins holding human remains from the grounds of the North Dakota Governor’s Residence in Bismarck, N.D., the state’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) said in an email to PEOPLE on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026.
Crews also recovered one empty wooden box of unknown origin. The work came nearly five months after contractors digging in the yard first struck a grave.
A preliminary analysis of the remains indicated they belong to two women, two men, two teenage boys and one toddler, the agency said.
Search of Grounds Is Finished
Brandon Solberg, the OMB’s facilities management director, said crews examined more than 80 anomalies and spots of interest flagged during the investigation. Excavation began Sept. 1, and crews wrapped up fieldwork Sept. 14.
The search of the grounds is complete, but the scientific work is not. Archaeologists will next review and catalog every set of remains and each recovered object. The state expects that process to run into early 2027.
How the Case Began
The case opened May 19, when contractors excavating the southwest corner of the property, near 4th Street and Boulevard Avenue, turned up human remains along with coffin hardware and fragments. Construction stopped after the find, and authorities were notified.
Archaeologists with the State Historical Society of North Dakota swept the area with ground-penetrating radar. Early scans suggested the contractors had found only the edge of something larger. Preliminary radar results identified nine more anomalies, pointing to the potential for 10 graves in the work area, the OMB said at the time.
A Cemetery From the 1870s
The property served as Bismarck’s first community cemetery from 1873 to 1877, in the city’s earliest years. Most of the graves were believed to have been relocated to St. Mary’s and Fairview cemeteries in the 1880s. A project at the site uncovered 13 burials in 1903, and five more burials came to light in 1959.
“They had thought in the 1880s that they had exhumed everybody,” Kara Haff, a spokesperson for the State Historical Society of North Dakota, told The Bismarck Tribune.
The latest finds add to the evidence that the 19th-century relocation effort left people behind.
Reburial Planned for 2027
The OMB contracted with a local funeral home to handle the reburial. Crisis Care Chaplaincy volunteered to help see the relocation carried out respectfully. The state expects the reburial in a local cemetery in the spring of 2027, once cataloging is complete.
A spokesperson for Gov. Kelly Armstrong told the North Dakota Monitor that the governor “wants to ensure the remains are treated with the appropriate care and respect.”