Thank you to all our readers who have joined us the past few years to learn more about forensic archeology, forensic anthropology and specifically the work that we’ve been doing to assist in the exhumation and identification of unknown migrants that have died in Brooks County Texas. We plan on updating the blog at least once a month until our next human rights trip next summer. Keep in mind the work towards identifications never stops! Skeletal analyses at various institutions and human rights campaigns continue all year.
We would like to know what you are interested in reading about. Do you want to know more about the specific techniques we use, the NamUs database, our lab, our university program, our crew? Please send your questions to Dr. Latham at lathamke@uindy.edu. We look forward to hearing from you.
Today we head back to Indiana. We woke up early and packed up our hotel rooms. Checking and double checking every corner to make sure we didn’t forget anything, and moving items from suitcase to suitcase making sure everything fit and was under the weight maximum for the airline. There was one last stop we needed to make before heading to the airport: Whataburger. Amanda said this Texas classic was on her list of places to dine while in the Lone Star State, so we picked up a few taquitos and honey butter chicken biscuits for the road. Then we waved good bye to San Marcos and headed towards the airport. This is the first year we didn’t have to stop and clean out the rental before returning it. Previous years our rental transported us muddy, sweaty and stinky as we conducted archeological exhumations. This year the rental was spared the usual Febreeze bath before being returned.
Homeward Bound
When we got to the airport we huddled in a corner at our gate and discussed the tasks we need to complete in the upcoming few weeks. Our work is far from over. We have documents we need to make and submit to the appropriate agencies. We have databases to update, emails to send and reflections to make. Amanda and Justin will be taking over the NamUs database duties of our cases as Ryan transitions to his fellowship at the South Texas Human Rights Center. He is already dedicating a lot of time to reviewing documents, databases, spreadsheets and other tasks that will better prepare him for his upcoming job. Most of us slept on the flight home, thoroughly exhausted from our two weeks in Texas. Since we were working all day, everyday we didn’t have much time to just stop and think about what we were doing and how this experience has impacted us. Those reflections will begin to pour into our minds slowly over the next few days and weeks.
Just because we are home doesn’t mean the blog is over for the year. We plan on submitting several more entries over the next week or so. Please continue to check back daily for new entries! Thank you to all of you that have followed us so far. We appreciate your support and the awareness you are bringing to this humanitarian crisis.
Since we’re conducting our skeletal analyses at Texas State University, I thought it would be a good idea to talk about the amazing laboratories we’re working in this week. At Texas State there are three laboratories in the Forensic Anthropology Center.
Forensic Anthropology Research Facility (FARF)
FARF is an outdoor decomposition research facility that consists of about 26 acres of land. Students and other forensic science researchers conduct research projects here using donated bodies to learn more about rates of decomposition and methods to estimate time since death. Providing time since death to law enforcement is an important aspect of the job of a forensic anthropologist and can provide valuable information in a criminal investigation. When I first walked into FARF, I was shown a small scatter of bones. Dr. Spradley explained that vulture scavenging is common in South Texas. A group of vultures can reduce a body to bone in several hours and then scatter the bones. Several researchers have conducted studies here on this topic. When you walk around this facility, you are likely to see multiple cages of different sizes. Each cage contains a body and is part of a research project. The cages are mostly used to keep out scavenging animals, but different cages serve different purposes and aid in someone’s research. For example, the cages covered in green mesh were set up to keep bugs and insects out. There are also weather stations in FARF that record temperature, precipitation, and humidity levels, so that researchers can see how these variables impact decomposition. FARF is an excellent resource for students and researchers to use.
Green mesh cage
Osteology Research and Processing Laboratory (ORPL)
After FARF, donated bodies go to ORPL to get processed. In this lab the donated bodies are decontaminated and the soft tissues are removed from the bones, so that a skeletal analysis can be conducted. This facility has a processing suite with giant kettles for processing bodies, a morgue freezer to store bodies, a digitizer, and a portable x-ray machine. Most forensic anthropology laboratories do not have a separate building just for processing, so we were all amazed when we saw this dedicated space. This lab is also where the Operation Identification (unidentified migrants) analyses take place. We spent most of our time here doing skeletal analyses, while other teams worked on processing remains or on documenting personal artifacts that were found with the migrant remains.
Processing suite with kettleMorgue Freezer
Grady Early Forensic Anthropology Laboratory (GEFARL)
At GEFARL, osteological research and histology analyses are conducted by students and faculty. The donated skeletal collection is also curated here. GEFARL is full of fancy toys (high tech scientific equipment) including a micro-CT scanner, a white light laser scanner, and a 3D printer. We were so jealous when we walked into this laboratory. The equipment they have here is amazing and great tools for research. We were shown a few skulls that they printed with their 3D printer. They looked pretty close to the real thing, but felt heavy. The micro-CT scanner may have the word micro it’s the name, but this machine is huge. The Micro-CT scanner and white light laser scanner both create 3D images that can be manipulated and stored on a computer for later research.
