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Date: | Sun, 14 Apr 2019 08:12:37 +1000 |
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Hi Adrian
There are three independent issues here - stability of soil, chemicals
(such as lead) and infectious organisms.
Stability of soil is an engineering problem of avoiding collapse of
the grave and suffocation of the archaeologist. I'm stating the
obvious, but beware of sand and beware of any type of soil where you
have to pump water out of the grave before you can exhume - the
pressure of water behind the excavated section encourages collapse.
In the confined space of a crypt, dust from lead coffins is a health
hazard.
Likewise in crypts some infectious organisms may survive.
https://oem.bmj.com/content/oemed/45/5/359.full.pdf [1]
Out in the open air, risks are minimised
Most infectious organisms do not survive after a few days in a dead
body - an exception being the Ebola virus.
You ask for informed anecdotes. I headed up the ICTY exhumation team
in Bosnia for four years. Nobody fell ill from a disease that could be
attributed to work on the dead bodies.
Though it deals with mass disasters, the following may be useful to
you.
https://www.who.int/hac/techguidance/management-of-dead-bodies/en/ [2]
If you look at this video you will see archaeologists exhuming
soldiers from WW1 at Fromelles in NE France. They are wearing
protective hair cover, face masks, suits and latex gloves. They are
not protecting themselves. They are protecting the DNA in the bodies
from contamination by the excavators.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJ73GZy3T7M [3]
Richard Wright
----- Original Message -----
From: "HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY"
To:
Cc:
Sent:Fri, 12 Apr 2019 16:28:25 -0700
Subject:Health and safety considerations for exhumations
Hi all,
Can anyone point me to any articles or research that explore the
issues
around possible health and safety risks associated with exhumation of
historical graves, both in general (e.g. lead/chemical/hazmat
exposure,
depth of excavations), but also specifically in relation to the
possibility
that an interred individual died of a communicable disease (e.g.
Spanish
Influenza) i.e., are there risks of disease transmission from a
historical
burial, and is there any research to back this up?
Since so far I have nothing on it, I will also accept your informed
anecdotes and opinions!
Thanks kindly
*Adrian Myers, PhD*
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Links:
------
[1] https://oem.bmjcom/content/oemed/45/5/359.full.pdf
[2] https://www.who.int/hac/techguidance/management-of-dead-bodies/en/
[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJ73GZy3T7M
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