Forensic anthropology in conflict zones

The popular press has taken some recent shots at the utility of anthropology specifically, the social sciences generally and, most broadly, a liberal arts education. While this knowledge may not produce a bunch of millionaires, it does make real differences in the lives of real people. We (the Department of Anthropology at UNCG) hosted a great talk this past Wednesday (November 6th) that demonstrates this very process in action. David Hines, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Florida, presented on his forensic anthropological work excavating mass graves in Iraq. David originally contacted the department because his father taught at UNCG and, during the few months a year that he is in the states, makes him home in Greensboro. Currently, he serves as a forensic anthropology trainer for the Iraq offices of the International Commission on Missing Persons.

The numbers that Hines cited are staggering: an estimated 300,000 to over 1,000,000 missing people are thought to be buried in known or unknown mass graves within the country, most as a consequence of Saddam Hussein's regime. Hines related that most of these deaths occurred during the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988), political infighting, the murder of political dissidents, terrorism, and the Anfal campaign (the genocide of the Kurds and other non-Arab populations in the late 1980s). He gave a nice overview of the political situation in the country (which is critical to understanding how this sort of work can be carried out) and how they go about finding and excavating the mass graves.

The talk was really, really well attended (350+ showed up), thanks largely to the organizational talents of our Student Anthropological Society. A huge thanks to David for taking the time to visit!

Paleoanthropology and Paleolithic archaeology in the southern Caucasus (oh yea, and the new cranium from Dmanisi)

So, a bit more detail on the workshop in Tbilisi:

• The southern Caucasus is quickly becoming a hotspot for paleoanthropology and Paleolithic archaeology. Of course we have Dmanisi, but the entire region is cholk-full of Paleolithic sites. Western researchers are not as familiar with it, nor do they use it as much, as they should, mainly because most information is published in Georgian, Armenian, and Russian, and the data has generally been of relatively low quality. We are, however, rapidly moving towards the production of a very rich dataset for the region.  
• Tbilisi is a pretty, vibrant city, and the food is really good, particularly for a carnivore such as myself. The Georgian National Museum is also a beautiful, state-of-the-art facility.

Angela Bruch giving introductory remarks in the Georgian National Museum's lecture hall.

• Michael Maerker, a geographer at Tuebingen, gave a talk about using GIS predictive modelling to identify the location of paleo-lakeshores. This is really interesting work given how closely tied early hominins appear to be associated with these sorts of habitats. (He's also a really nice guy and fun to be around.)
• I presented our work on a couple Middle Paleolithic sites that we've started excavating in northern Armenia. One of the complaints I had was that we hadn't found any faunal material yet. Reid Ferring said that he had found several MP sites just north of the border in Georgia with bones, so there's hope I suppose...
• This was not a coincidence, I suspect, but the official announcement of the most recently discovered cranium (D4500) was made during the last day of the workshop. So, that brings the count of hominin crania from the site up to five now. This was particularly interesting since the newest cranium, found in 2005, apparently matches up with the mandible (D2600) that was discovered way back in 2000. David Lordkipanidze, the leader of the Dmanisi team, made the official announcement at the Georgian National Museum (it was all in Georgian, of course). They're basically calling all the specimens Homo erectus and, in fact, are suggesting that all early Homo specimens from this time period should also be referred to that species.  

David Lordkipanidze speaking to the press about the new Dmanisi cranium.

• The highlight of the workshop was, naturally, the visit to Dmanisi. The best part was that we were given a personal tour by Reid Ferring, who's been studying the archaeology and geology of the site for 20 years or so. gave us a fantastic tour of the site and a fantastic explanation of the geology. I have to admit that the site's stratigraphy had always been somewhat of a mystery to me, but Reid's on-site explanation really cleared things up (we had actually visited the site in 2012, but the excavation team was not there that day).

A shot looking down into what's referred to as the M5 Trench at Dmanisi. For scale, the total depth is over 6 meters.

Overall, a really wonderful experience.