Opinions vary as to what constitutes a mass grave, but essentially it is one that contains numerous individuals, often measured in hundreds, and is usually the result of genocide or civil war, although they can result from military conflict or the hurried consequence of natural disasters. Their excavation tends to fall into two types: the recovery of evidence in order to obtain convictions for war crimes, or the need to recover individuals in order to obtain personal identification and facilitate repatriation to families. Mass graves resulting from genocide or civil war are discussed here. They have occurred in several parts of the world, but most notably in Africa, the Balkans, and the Middle East. They can pose problems other than simply of scale, often through political interference, cultural differences, lack of appropriate facilities and equipment, and unfamiliarity with archaeological processes by those nominally responsible for excavation. Archaeologists and anthropologists may be part of a team but may not necessarily be in a position to exercise control over the way bodies are recovered and treated. They may need to devise minimum standards with which they are comfortable and which can be presented and defended in court.
Mass graves tend to be identified from the air or located on the basis of witness accounts. Concealment is not necessarily a high priority in regions where the government itself has carried out atrocities, although some are very deliberately shielded from international gaze, for example, by re-deposition of rubble. Witness accounts are probably the most important methods since the same witness(es) may also provide evidence of the people responsible. Trial trenching, usually by machine, can be used to narrow down the specific location. Geophysics remains a useful technique, but requires a large background area against which the anomaly caused by the grave is visible. Given that many areas around mass graves are known to be mined, this is not always feasible. However, once the grave has been found geophysics may be able to provide information regarding density or nature of deposition within the grave itself.
Mass graves tend to be dug and infilled by machine. As such they tend to be of characteristic width (typically around 3 m which is the width of a large machine bucket) and have a ramp at one end. Tyre tracks may still be evident on the surface and, if the grave was also an execution site, there may be cartridge cases and other material to be recorded at the grave edge. Many such graves may be over 2 m deep and will necessitate consideration of collapse and flooding. Other hazards may include live ordnance, or devices planted in the grave by perpetrators, not to mention local hostility. Only in some cases are the victims laid out individually or bagged. In some instances of genocide the bodies are carried to the grave in wagons and tipped in by machine causing a series of discrete depositions of contorted and intermingled remains. Some graves are secondary, that is, the bodies have been removed from a primary grave, and therefore may contain evidence of the primary grave itself, or even of an original execution site. The process of moving human remains by machine inevitably causes some body parts to become detached; it may also entail differential states of decay between individual machine depositions within the grave. The net effect is that the archaeologist can be required to separate out tightly compressed individuals from each other, while at the same time identify soil change, record artifacts and belongings, identify evidence for abuse, and maintain a comprehensive system of recording.
Given the varied states of decay and disassociation of remains, recording a mass grave can require a high degree of anthropological knowledge. It will almost certainly require a system that can record three-dimensionally and log data simultaneously (typically a total station EDM). One system, for example, allows for the taking of points on the main joints of each individual, thus creating ‘stick-people’ who can be viewed and rotated as appropriate on the computer screen. This method can sometimes assist the relocation of body parts to individuals. The nature of a mass grave is such that the individual victims are the key ‘artifacts’ and therefore bespoke recording pro formas are likely to be required. Individuals are numbered uniquely and this number should remain with each individual from excavation to mortuary, via autopsy and any sampling for DNA, through to eventual reburial. The same number will be used for clothing and any other associated material (e. g., jewelry) or objects which may support presumptive identification. Recording will also need to be made in situ of blindfolds, cable ties, and other evidence of abuse in case these become detached in the recovery process. Record will also need to be made of other materials within the grave, for example, artifacts such as projectiles or cartridge cases, botanical remains that may have been transferred with the victims, and soils or geological traces which may also provide links between graves and point of execution. Tire marks and machine teeth marks within the grave itself may provide evidence of type of vehicle, or even the specific vehicle used.
See also: Burials: Dietary Sampling Methods; Excavation and Recording Techniques; Osteological Methods; Remote Sensing Approaches: Aerial; Geophysical.
World History
