Archaeological Investigations in Bełżec
Based on the data taken from Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team, the investigations that were carried out at Bełżec were different from any investigation done prior to it. At the beginning, the importance of this site and the enormous number of victims did not seem like it could be a great part of history. The last conducted investigation and excavation revealed the evidence of the overwhelming mass murders that occurred in that place. These archaeological investigations also confirmed the existence of evidence which showed that there was a Nazi attempt to hide the major size of the crime. Prior to the fourth investigation, which was undertaken between the years of 1997-2000, there were three other investigations in 1945, 1946 and 1961. The last investigation came as a result of the agreement between the Council for the Protection of Memory of Combat and Martyrdom in Warsaw, in association with the United States Holocaust Memorial Council and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC. The methodology applied in all four investigations was more or less similar. It consisted of “marking out the area to be examined to a fixed grid system at 5 metre intervals (knots). Exploratory boreholes to a depth of 6 metres were made; obtaining core samples of the geological strata. A total of 2,001 archaeological exploratory drillings were carried out and were instrumental in locating 33 mass graves of varying sizes”. (http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/ar/modern/archreview.html) Also the metal detector was used to examine the soil around the graves. (Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team).
Methods:
Human remains are something that is traditionally associated w...
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One of the major task that needs to be taken care of before anything could proceed was to get a consent from the family of the individuals that were missing or had been considered dead. Since in some of the cultures it is considered very disrespectful to dig up the burial ground even if it is to find out the truth about what had happened. When and if the bodies are found the anthropologists try to the best of their ability to be careful and respectful of the remains that they found.
The second question frequently asked regarding Schliemann’s legacy examines his motives and skill as an excavator: was Heinrich Schliemann a good archaeologist? This question has two sides. First, did Schliemann use the best techniques and technology available to him at time of his first excavation? Second, did he have the same values that other archaeologists have?
“Skeletons in the Closet”, written by Clara Spotted Elk, is a well-built argument, but it can be enhanced to become immensely effective. Firstly, Elk’s position is effective in obtaining her purpose and connecting her audience to it, because she includes a broad scope and background of the problem in the first few paragraphs. She describes the amount of Indian skeletons preserved and contained by American museums, through the use of data and statistics. For instance, Elk states: “we found that 18,500 Indian remains…are unceremoniously stored in the Smithsonian’s nooks and crannies” (13-15). By using this data, the background of the argument is illustrated to assist the audience in understanding her argument. Now, by knowing this statistic, readers can connect with Elk and her assertion, since we realize that there are plenty of skeletons that
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In the book “Death's Acre”, By Bill Bass and Jon Jefferson they tell readers how they got to where they are today in their careers and how Dr. Bill Bass became famous for the well known “Body Farm” at the University of Tennessee. In “Deaths Acre” Bass invites people across the world who are reading to go behind the gates of the body farm where he revolutionized forensic anthropology. Bass takes us on a journey on how he went from not knowing if this is what he wanted to do for a living to being in a career that he would never trade. He tells us about the Lindbergh kidnapping and murder, explored the headless corpse of a person whose identity shocked many people included the police, divulges how the telltale traces and case
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Kennewick Man has started and added to an immense saga about the ethics involved in excavating and studying the remains of other that passed away long and not so long ago. Kennewick man being one of the hottest topics of the media during the mid-nineties has proved to be one of the most trying ethical dilemmas of our time. An ethical dilemma as described by Kelley Ross Ph. D is a “conflict between the rightness or wrongness of the actions and the goodness or badness of the consequences of those actions” (www.friesien.com). In the case of the Kennewick man the coalition of the tribes are trying to do what is best for their culture and belief by having the Kennewick man buried and the scientists who want to study this strange humanoid that has shown up on the banks of the Columbia River and are acting how they believe this should be handled, with careful study and the need to find the knowledge that this skeleton can provide about America nine millennia ago; and here is the problem that has been floating around this case for little over a decade.
The show portrays that forensic anthropologists are responsible for almost every aspect of the death investigation, which does not correctly depict the role of forensic anthropologists (Wood,2017a). The method of which components of the biological profile, like sex of the remains, is also incorrectly portrayed as Dr. Brennan estimated the sex using a trait that does not accurately indicate sexual dimorphism (Wood, 2017c). Lastly, the complexity of personal identification, which is one of the most important aspects of forensic anthropology casework (Krishan et al, 2016), is not portrayed correctly as Dr. Brennan and her team based the identification of the remains on one trait that has questionable reliability (Charles & Levisetti, 2011). All in all, ‘The feet on the beach’ episode of ‘Bones’ does not accurately portray the forensic anthropology as it is romanticized for entertainment and overly simplified for a lay person to
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The validity of the conclusion could be better with more evidence from different cemeteries around the country. Therefore due to the limitation of evidence it is possible to lead to inaccurate results. It was also difficult to decipher what some of the inscriptions were as the gravestones have been eroded by the weather (figure 5-5.4).
At burial grounds such as Combe-Grenal and Abri Moula, France, archeologists found cut marks on the bones on the deceased which suggest that the Homo sapiens might have practiced defleshing (Wikipedia). Defleshing, or excarnation, is a burial practice where one removes the flesh and organs of the dead;
Between the years of 2010 to 2012 a british team of archaeologists found massive grave sites. To find the graves, the team used a radar. They found three pits that were 26 meters long, 17 meters wide, and four meters deep (www.quora.com). Archaeologists found these graves where the extermination camp, Treblinka, would have been at. Treblinka was located in the north-east forest of Warsaw (www.wikipedia.com). It is predicted that more than 900,000 jews were killed at this camp in 16 months (www.sciencelive.com). Since there were so many people killed, that would be the most logical explanation for the large
Tensions between science and religion have recurred throughout history. The issues of what to do with the remains of our ancestors are viewed differently by people. Some people believe that the burial site should be left untouched. Among this group of people fall the Native Americans. Archaeologists, on the other hand, think we should uncover the burial site to be able to discover more about the history of the land from which the grave lies.
“This is my lab and what we do is study bones,” states Kari Bruwelheide in her video entitled “30,000 Skeletons”. Of the three resources that we were provided, “Puzzles of the Chesapeake” by Sally Walker, “Forensic Anthropology” by an unknown author, and “30,000 Skeletons” by Smithsonian Education presented by Kari Bruwelheide, the resource “30,000 Skeletons” is by far the best at explaining the role of an anthropologist. It is unbeatable because it is a video rather than just written words, and Kari Bruwelheide has personal experience in being a forensic anthropologist. A forensic anthropologist is a scientist that studies human remains, or in another word, skeletons, to try to find out information about the past.