The Cromwell Community Board meeting this week allocated $1500 for identification of clear burial areas at the Nevis Cemetery.
The 0.4ha site, which is located 40km from Cromwell on Nevis Rd, has mostly unmarked graves and only a few headstones.
At the meeting Central Otago District Council property and facilities officer Janice Remnant said it was assumed the cemetery had been officially closed as early as 1941, but the council no longer had formal records to authenticate this.
It concluded the cemetery had a ''live'' status due to no evidence to the contrary.
The assessment, which will need an archaeologist present, will identify ''grave cuts'' to source free burial sites.
The report will go back to the board so it can make a decision about its future status and management.
People with close ties to the area indicated the desire to be buried there, Ms Remnant said.
''They would dearly love it to become operational again, but either way, it can't just be left in limbo.''
The first burials at the site were believed to have been in 1898 and it has the status of a Heritage New Zealand archaeological site.
If someone wanted to be buried there now they would need to go through a process which could take up to 20 days, Ms Remnant said.
''They can be put on ice, but many families would find this unacceptable.''
Ground testing would smooth out this process, she said.
''We believe that there is clear area in the cemetery. However, we won't know until that ground testing is done.''
The cemetery is accessible by a road which reaches 1260m and can become dangerous during snow.
If it became operational again there would need to be a condition for burials to be delayed if adverse weather conditions were forecast, she said.
Board member Shirley Calvert said it needed to know one way or another which parts of the land contained burials and this was the best way to do that.
The site is maintained by a group of locals.
