Headstones mark the deaths of hundreds of loved ones in Covington's Southview Cemetery, but hundreds of others lie beneath the ground in obscurity, with not even a rock to mark their presence.

But Len Strozier with Omega Mapping Services recently used ground-penetrating radar to find unmarked graves along the East Street portion of the cemetery and temporarily marked them with bright orange flags. Covington community service workers on Friday replaced the flags with small, circular metal discs.

Strozier found around 300 graves, Covington Transportation Manager Billy Skinner said. Long-held rumors say this section is the burial site of slaves and paupers.

"It makes you feel good to that these unknowns have been found," Skinner said.

Strozier will also map portions of Westview Cemetery, located off West Street, where there could be a mass burial site, resulting from the moving of graves when Interstate 20 and exit 90 were being built.

Ground-penetrating radar involves transmitting radar waves from a surface antenna, reflecting them off buried discontinuities and measuring the elapsed time before the reflections are received again at the surface, according to the Society for American Archaeology.