Some of this reminds me of the recent excavations in search of frozen
tissue that would contain intact DNA for the 1918 influenza that killed
millions around the world.

A few years ago an excellent book by Gina Kolata (1999) "The Story of the
Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 and the Search for the Virus That Caused
It" discussed the search for the frozen remains of some Native Alaskans and
some Norweigan miners who died of the flu and were promptly buried in
permafrost.

On one hand was Johan Hultin who had excavated a cemetery in Northern
Alaska back in 1951 and who returned there a few years ago for more samples
that could be studied with better techniques and technology.  He went in
and excavated the whole cemetery in a matter of days, with news crews at
the standby, a meagre budget, and apparently little or no input from the
native population.

On the other hand is Kirsty Duncan whose respect for the dead and the
living (relatives and caretakers alike) might be considered to the utmost
extreme.  Before excavation was begun she worked many months with the local
church, community, and tracked down relatives of the deceased (who were
transient miners to the area).  Then, when given permission from all
involved, she went to incredible precautions to protect against unknowns.

My feeling as I read Kolata's account was that Hultin represented the
extreme of the old school - slap dash, get what you are after and fill in
the hole, and Duncan represented the extreme of the new school - patiently
wait, involve directly anyone and everyone with an interest, aware of the
vast potential for hurt and disrespect, aware that they were outsiders, ...

While I in no way condone how Hultin obtained his samples, I do have
serious reservations about the proceedures followed by Duncan.  In reading
Kolata, the progress of events were wonderfully strung out through the
text, almost to emphasize the long and tedious proceedure that may or may
not lead to the successful procurement of the samples that were so viatally
important to the research of thousands of virologists across the globe.  I
had the sense that Kolata was pointing out the possibly terrible precident
that Duncan was setting by making the otherwise ignorant villagers and
descendants a part of every decision and giving them incredible power to
end for whatever reason her project that meant so much to the world.

Every cemetery excavation project will have its own circumstances which
dictate how it will be carried out and who will be involved, but there must
be a sensible middle ground in these two extremes so that something will be
learned and so that nothing will go wrong or be harmed.  Most of us are
torn between facing the prospect of having the local undertaker scoop the
bones out with a backhoe or having professional archaeologists analyze
every minutia of the site and remains (or leaving alone and learning nothing).

A wonderful analysis of the dichotomy between Hultin and Duncans' methods
is found on the web in "The Tale of Two Treks" by Robin Lucas.  This short
report details more succinctly the differences between the work of Hultin
and Duncan:
http://www.hms.harvard.edu/dms/bbs/bulletin/0500_may/treks.html

It also reminds me of the debate raging in the VA papers earlier this year
when a local man vehemently protested the excavations being conducted at
Jamestown.  Claiming that he had an ancestor who died in the first years of
the Jamestown settlement he protested that, since the graves were all
unmarked and names unknown, the archaeologists should leave all of them alone.


I feel that the greatest respect we can pay to the dead is to find out all
we can about them and what their life was like, and excavate (in a learned
manner) only when absolutely necessary.

        Dan W.





>Gary Vines wrote:
>Years ago I had the invideous task of relocating an 1860s private grave site
>100 metres away due to a sewage scheme. It took 8 of us (with only one
>archaeologist and the rest volunteers) four days to excavate and reinter 5
>burials, one of an elderly woman, two 9-10 year olds buried in a single
>grave and two infants. They were marked by a large cairn and a grader scrape
>revealed the 4 clear rectangles of different couloured soil. We were not
>trying to obtain detailed archaeological data, but only moving them with as
>much care as possible. However, we did record as much on the coffins, bones
>and other contents as we could, while trying to disturb the skeletons as
>little as possible. As an aside, the remains were extremely well preserved,
>with every bone, even in the 9 month old infant, preserved and well
>calcified. Our technique involved mechanically excavating a trench beside
>each grave, then excavating in from the side taking off the back fill and
>exposing the top and side of the coffin remains. the timber was mostly a
>spongy consistency, but would keep its form in large peices if all the soil
>above and becide was carefully removed first. Withthe infants, we cleared
>the soil around the coffin, and drove a steel plate in horixontally under
>neath, then removed the entire burial, bones, coffin and clay matrix in one
>block for dareful excavation under cover afterwords. One of our problems was
>working in a saturated area of ground. The remains were transferred to new
>coffins, including remnants of the original coffins, nails, buttons etc. and
>these were stored by the undertaker for a couple of days untill the new
>grave was ready. It should be noted that the great great grand daughter and
>great great great grandson of the old lady assisted with the exhumation. the
>family was very concerned that the deaced were properly respected and so
>this might not be seen as a typical grave excavation.
>
>Gary Vines
>Archaeologist
>-----------------------------
>Biosis Research Pty. Ltd.
>Natural and Cultural Heritage Consultants
>322 Bay Street (PO Box 489)
>PORT MELBOURNE, 3207
>
>ph: (03) 9646 9499
>fax: (03) 9646 9242
>mobile: 0428 526 898
>mailto:[log in to unmask]
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Gaye Nayton [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
>Sent: Saturday, 21 July 2001 6:06 AM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: historic graves
>
>
>Hi guys
>
>I would like to collect some stats on excavating historic graves for
>reburial in contract and non contract situations. Stuff like average speed
>of excavation per set of remains, how many excavators required. Whether one
>way of approaching the exhumations was found to be better than another. Did
>the type of burial e.g. vault, brick lined shaft or dirt shaft cause
>difficulties. Any information along those lines would be appreciated.
>
>Also I am looking for information on Chinese burial customs aboard in the
>later 19th century if anyone can point me in the direction of reasonably
>assessable reports or books.
>
>Contact me off list at [log in to unmask]
>
>Thanks Gaye
>