|
Welcome
Taphophilia (dot) Com...
A repository of morbid curiosities:
Thanatology and Taphophile Issues, Cemetery,
Funeral Industry and Death Related News.
A Taphophilia Thank You...
Taphophilia (dot) Com would not be possible without the knowledge, experience and talent of DarkestWeb. From its conception and early development, DarkestWeb was faced with many challenges; from inspiring and motivating, to providing guidance and direction. The continued dedication and support has produced results greater than ever expected, and for this, I owe a huge debt of gratitude.
Announcements
Graveyards of Chicago:
The People, History, Art, and Lore of Cook County Cemeteries
By Matt Hucke And Ursula Bielski. Discover a Chicago That Exists Just Beneath the Surface - About Six Feet Under! Take a tour of Chicago's permanent residents! Please visit the Lake Claremont Press website to purchase your copy of Graveyards of Chicago today!
Green-Wood Cemetery Arcadia Publishing announces the release of Alexandra Mosca's historic account of one of New York's most famous cemeteries. Aracdia Publishing's Images of America series has an extensive catalog of many cemetery publications! Please visit Arcadia Publishing to purchase your copy of Green-Wood Cemetery and to browse other available titles!
Men of Mortuaries Calendar
To purchase your 2008 calendar, learn more about the KAMMCARES Foundation, or to be featured in the 2009 calendar, please visit Men of Mortuaries.
Epitaphs: The Magazine for Cemetery Lovers By Cemetery Lovers
For information regarding subscriptions, single issues, submission guidelines, deadlines, classifieds or advertising for future issues, please visit The Cemetery Club.
Guardians of the Soul: Angels and Innocents, Mourners and Saints, Indiana's remarkable cemetery sculpture
with photography by John Bower and foreword by Claude Cookman is now
available. Please visit
Studio Indiana for more information.
West Springfield Massachusetts: Stories Carved in Stone by Rusty Clark features information on early New England gravestone carvers with more than two hundred photos and illustrations. Please visit the Dog Pond Press website.
|
|
Dig Unearths Artifacts That May Resolve Donner Party Questions |
|
|
|
|
Written by DeadGirl
|
|
Monday, 19 July 2004 |
TRUCKEE, Calif. -- A bonanza of artifacts that may prove to be from the Donner family's camp is on its way to the University of Oregon Museum of Natural and Cultural History in Eugene.
A team of archaeologists led by UO and University of Montana researchers hit pay dirt earlier this week at Alder Creek Camp in the Truckee Ranger District of the Tahoe National Forest.
They uncovered a cooking hearth and bone fragments along with broken china, bits of jewelry, musket balls, fragments of a wagon and a chunk of a writing slate.
The discovery of the hearth provides what the UO's Julie Schablitsky says is the smoking gun needed to locate the camp and to settle whether starving members of the stranded group resorted to cannibalism to survive their desperate ordeal in the snowy Sierra Nevada during the winter of 1846-47.
"Here's where archaeology can come to the rescue and put contradictory statements and myths to rest," Schablitsky says. "If we are able to confirm that some of these bones are human, the debate over whether this is the Donner camp will be put to rest."
The team also hopes to establish what a starvation diet looks like. How were they processing what they did catch? Diaries don't say whether they were successful at hunting but Schablitsky says this new evidence indicates that they were.
And then there's the inevitable question about cannibalism.
For the answer, Guy Tasa, a human osteologist (bone specialist) at the UO Museum of Natural and Cultural History, will perform the initial cataloguing and analysis of the bone. DNA testing will certify whether any are human and possibly even link them with living descendants of the Donners. If the bones have "pot polish" on them, which occurs when bone are boiled in water, this will be a sign that cannibalism did take place.
"It's like finding a treasure on the order of Custer's battlefield," says Tasa, who has participated in both digs. "The Donner Party is this infamous thing. We're going to really be able to talk in depth about the entire four-month period out here. At the least we will be able show a sequence of events that ultimately may have led to cannibalism."
The age and types of artifacts have convinced team members that they likely have located the Donner's camp, and not a mining or logging camp.
"We've uncovered the kinds of things that confirm the presence of women and children," Schablitsky says. "George Donner's wife, Tamzene, was a teacher. Finding the pieces of a writing slate brings to my mind a vignette of her trying to normalize the situation by teaching her children arithmetic and spelling around the fire."
Workers combing the site also found a broken teacup with a hand-painted design on it that looks a lot like holly and ivy, a whetstone and shards of medicine bottles.
Schablitsky and co-primary investigator Kelly Dixon, an assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Montana, brought a group of specialized researchers to this summer's dig, including Donner Party historian Kristin Johnson of Sacramento, Calif.; forensic anthropologist Shannon Novak, Idaho State University; and bioarchaeologist and cannibalism expert G. Richard Scott, University of Nevada, Reno.
The team members are planning a book about the science of the Donner Party, but for the next year or more, the focus will be on sorting through this new evidence. In addition, Schablitsky will begin teaching a new UO course this fall, historical archaeology.
Last summer, the Discovery Channel funded the team's excavation in the same area. Researchers unearthed burned bone, lamp glass, lead shot, bottle glass, ceramic dish fragments and a buckle. But a paper-thin layer of charcoal and a bone fragment with cut marks were not strong enough evidence to link the find directly to the Donners, so the team resolved to probe more deeply this year.
This summer's excavation was supported by grants from the Truckee Tahoe Community Foundation and the University of Montana's Office of Research. Additional support was provided by the U.S. Forest Service; Jones and Stokes, Inc.; Institute for Canine Forensics; Far Western Anthropological Research Group; Past Forward, Inc.; URS Consultants; Bureau of Land Management; and Summit Envirosolutions. Professional archaeologists from throughout the region volunteered their services to assist in the excavations.
Future work will include a spatial analysis to reconstruct the layout of the camp.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/07/040719090711.htm |
|
