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Forensic Archaeology/Anthropology in
the News
Forensic archaeology is
increasingly in the news these days, as new scientific techniques are
combined with traditional methodologies to study cases that have often
gone unsolved for years -- or even decades. Here are some cases that
have been in the news in recent weeks:
Archaeologists Begin Exhuming 4,000 Unidentified Dead in Juárez, Mexico
Juarez,
Mexico, December 7 -- "Herculean" doesn't begin to
describe the task undertaken by a small team of
archeologists in Juárez, just across the Rio Grande
from El Paso, Texas. For a month now, they have been
digging up forsaken corpses in a corner of the San
Rafael municipal cemetery in the sand dunes south of
town.
The three
archeologists and seven contractors toiling there
have been hired by the Chihuahua state attorney
general to dig them all up and send the remains in
boxes to a forensic lab for DNA testing and possible
identification. More
than 4,000 bodies may be unearthed during the
project, which could take up to three years,
officials said.
Earliest Gunshot Victim in New World Recorded
Lima, Peru, June 20 -- Archaeologists in Peru have
uncovered the human skeleton of what they conclude is the earliest known
gunshot victim in the New World.
Digging in an Inca cemetery in the suburbs of Lima,
they came on well-preserved remains of an individual with holes less
than an inch in diameter in the back and front of the skull. Forensic
scientists in Connecticut said the position of the round holes and some
minuscule iron particles showed that the person most likely was shot and
killed by a Spanish musket ball.
Native
American Graves Believed from 1853 Massacre
Salt Lake City, Utah, June 8
-- The remains of seven American Indians unearthed by a home builder
show several were shot point-blank in the head by Mormon settlers
seeking revenge during a period of pitched violence in 1853, say
scientists who plan to release their findings on Friday.
The bones were discovered by
contractors digging in Nephi, about 70 miles south of Salt Lake City,
last summer for a house that now stands over the site.
The victims, all males about
13 to 35 years old, are believed to have been Goshute Indians who were
unwitting casualties of the Walker War, a nearly yearlong clash between
Mormons and other Indian tribes under the leadership of Ute Chief
Walkara.
Forensic Anthropology
Reveals Real Lives of Gladiators
Rome, June 11 -- When you hear
'gladiator', what do you picture? A fat vegetarian with bad teeth, who
never fought wearing strappy leather sandals? Well, that's what evidence
from an ancient mass grave is telling us.
The discovery of the first confirmed
collection of gladiator remains has allowed scientists to apply forensic
analysis - such as seen in television dramas like CSI, except with
real science and not just fluorescent sprays and swabs - to bones,
providing startling new evidence of just how gladiators lived and died.
Naples, Florida,
June 8 -- One had back pain. One suffered a
broken nose. And one, a man who stood tall
and might have been in his teens, always
took great care of his teeth.
All but one of his wisdom
teeth were intact when he died.
Nearly two months after a
land surveyor stumbled upon human bones in a
wooded area of east Fort Myers, prompting
the meticulous excavation of a 200-yard area
that turned up eight skeletons in all, city
police turned to the public Friday with part
of their findings. Investigators refused to
speculate whether the eight white men were
killed by a mass murderer or were dumped at
the site, or died there some other way,
saying the criminal investigation is still
wide open.
"Body Farm" Can't Get Rooted in Texas
Houston, Texas, June 17
-- There are a lot of necessary but
unpleasant things — landfills, chemical
plants and halfway houses being just a
few—that can cause concerned homeowners to
rush to the local zoning board to declare,
"Not in my back yard!"
Dundee Lab to Analyze Skull of Missing Man
Dundee,
Scotland, May 31 --
The skull of a deceased Glasgow accountant
who went missing over a year ago has been
sent to Dundee to try to establish the cause
of death.
Experts at the Anatomy and Forensic
Anthropology Lab at Dundee University will
analyse the only known remains of Andrew
Ramsay, who disappeared in mysterious
circumstances last year.
Detectives confirmed at a press conference
yesterday that the skull—recovered by the
crew of a fishing vessel working in the
Firth of Clyde on April 5—did belong to the
missing businessman.
Now the forensic team at Dundee University,
headed by Professor Sue Black, will assist
police in their attempts to find out what
happened to him.
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Anthropology News
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