Search
You are here
Fromelles: Naming the Dead: Identifying our War Dead from World War I
Conference
Published on
28 September 2014
Updated on
19 June 2017
Colloquia
The Archaeology of Violence
International colloquium organized by Inrap and the Museum of Louvre-Lens.
October 2, 3 and 4, 2104 at La Scène du Louvre-Lens
The archaeology of violence: wartime violence, mass violence
by Margaret Cox, former professor at Cranfield university, advisor for the australian and english government for the Fromelles project
This presentation focuses upon the identification of the mortal remains of 250 soldiers of the Australian Imperial Force (5th Division) and the British Army (61st Division). They were killed in action in 1916, and were excavated from six mass graves located adjacent to Pheasant Wood on the outskirts of the village of Fromelles, near Lille, France, in 2009. The aims of this project were to scientifically excavate the soldiers bodies and associated artefacts from their graves in order that they might, where possible, be identified (ID.
Working on this project from mid-2008, for the both the Australian and British Governments, through the Fromelles Management Board, my involvement was to plan and ensure delivery and quality assurance of the archaeological and anthropological aspects of the project. The excavation and anthropological analysis was undertaken during 2009, and DNA profiles from the buried soldiers were extracted and amplified from mid-2009 until early 2010. Collecting and amplifying DNA from possible familial donors began at this time and continues. Analysis of all available biological, genetic, artefactual and historical data sets utilized in our efforts to ID as many of these soldiers as possible began in 2010 and concludes in April 2014.
My role in the ID process has been, with others, to design and implement an appropriate ID protocol and methodology, and to chair and contribute to the data analysis process. This will be described, as will key procedural and ethical considerations. As with any program seeking to ID a single or a large number of individuals, crucial to the process is the cooperation and willingness to participate of possible living genetic relatives. As such, issues of informed consent and managing expectations are paramount. The process, its context, its potential and limitations all have to be made clear and must never be a vehicle for glossing over implicit limitations in methodologies. This presentation will also consider the presumption that DNA is the infallible key to a successful ID process. In historic cases, and for those dying in 1916, DNA has limitations that are not generally understood. These will be discussed as will the fact that once genomic data is involved in the ID process, ID changes from the social to the genomic; these may or may not be the same thing. Incidental findings may also arise when DNA is involved and these have both ethical and procedural implications. A successful DNA match with a significant match probability, when combined with other data may allow a name to be re-attributed to the deceased. Yet just how likely that match is to be meaningful – given the limitations and constraints not only of the use of DNA in historic cases, but also of the other data sets involved. Should the level of proof be required to be ‘beyond possible doubt’ (is that even possible in such cases?), ‘substantially more likely than not’, or something else? As the forensic anthropologist Stephen Byers cautioned (16, 2008): ‘One of the most common problems faced by forensic anthropologists [and of course historians and archaeologists] is how to make a single determination [e.g. identification] from ambiguous data’.
Byers, S. 2008. Introduction to Forensic Anthropology. 3rd Edn. Pearson: Boston.
Working on this project from mid-2008, for the both the Australian and British Governments, through the Fromelles Management Board, my involvement was to plan and ensure delivery and quality assurance of the archaeological and anthropological aspects of the project. The excavation and anthropological analysis was undertaken during 2009, and DNA profiles from the buried soldiers were extracted and amplified from mid-2009 until early 2010. Collecting and amplifying DNA from possible familial donors began at this time and continues. Analysis of all available biological, genetic, artefactual and historical data sets utilized in our efforts to ID as many of these soldiers as possible began in 2010 and concludes in April 2014.
My role in the ID process has been, with others, to design and implement an appropriate ID protocol and methodology, and to chair and contribute to the data analysis process. This will be described, as will key procedural and ethical considerations. As with any program seeking to ID a single or a large number of individuals, crucial to the process is the cooperation and willingness to participate of possible living genetic relatives. As such, issues of informed consent and managing expectations are paramount. The process, its context, its potential and limitations all have to be made clear and must never be a vehicle for glossing over implicit limitations in methodologies. This presentation will also consider the presumption that DNA is the infallible key to a successful ID process. In historic cases, and for those dying in 1916, DNA has limitations that are not generally understood. These will be discussed as will the fact that once genomic data is involved in the ID process, ID changes from the social to the genomic; these may or may not be the same thing. Incidental findings may also arise when DNA is involved and these have both ethical and procedural implications. A successful DNA match with a significant match probability, when combined with other data may allow a name to be re-attributed to the deceased. Yet just how likely that match is to be meaningful – given the limitations and constraints not only of the use of DNA in historic cases, but also of the other data sets involved. Should the level of proof be required to be ‘beyond possible doubt’ (is that even possible in such cases?), ‘substantially more likely than not’, or something else? As the forensic anthropologist Stephen Byers cautioned (16, 2008): ‘One of the most common problems faced by forensic anthropologists [and of course historians and archaeologists] is how to make a single determination [e.g. identification] from ambiguous data’.
Byers, S. 2008. Introduction to Forensic Anthropology. 3rd Edn. Pearson: Boston.
Margaret Cox, forensic anthropologist, author, researcher and TV contributor, specializes in aspects of life and death in the past, and her most recent work has been examining those killed in twentieth century conflicts. An internationally experienced forensic anthropologist she has worked in such places as Iraq, Rwanda, Kosovo, Cyprus, Italy, Malaysia, Belgium and France. Formerly Professor of Forensic Anthropology and Archaeology at the University of Bournemouth, UK (1994-2007) she retired from her post as Professor of Forensic Archaeology and Anthropology at Cranfield University, UK, in 2009. With over 100 publications to her name she is an internationally acclaimed specialist in her field and now undertakes freelance consultancy in her areas of expertise.
Founder, formerly CEO and now President of the Inforce Foundation (based at Cranfield University, UK), Professor Cox initiated, and was an author and editor of their seminal work: The Scientific Excavation of Mass Graves, published by Cambridge University Press in 2008. In her academic career, she designed and directed the world’s first MSc degree in Forensic Archaeology (from 1996) and the UK’s first MSc in Forensic Anthropology, three years later. She is also an experienced osteo-archaeologist, and examined human remains excavated from many archaeological sites around the world, including those excavated as a consequence of the Spitalfields Project, where almost 1000 people, who lived and died in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, and were buried in crypt beneath Christ and all Saints Church, Spitalfields, London.
In recent years Professor Cox has regularly undertaken work for both the UK and Australian ministries of defence, and is currently Scientific Advisor (responsible for archaeology, anthropology and identification) to the UK and Australian Governments for the Fromelles Project. This unique project has witnessed the excavation of 250 Australian and British soldiers buried in six mass graves by the German Army near Fromelles village in northern France in 1916. This project has been cutting edge in combining forensic and archaeological methods with anthropology, radiography, DNA and other scientific analyses, all undertaken in compliance with strict scene of crime protocols. To-date, 124 Australian soldiers have been identified to their names using a bespoke methodology that is compliant with all relevant international protocols. This has utilized all available data sets including DNA.
Professor Cox was honoured with the European Union's - Woman of Achievement Award (Humanitarian section) in 2002 for her work investigating violations of human rights in such areas as Rwanda and Kosovo.
Bibliography :
Founder, formerly CEO and now President of the Inforce Foundation (based at Cranfield University, UK), Professor Cox initiated, and was an author and editor of their seminal work: The Scientific Excavation of Mass Graves, published by Cambridge University Press in 2008. In her academic career, she designed and directed the world’s first MSc degree in Forensic Archaeology (from 1996) and the UK’s first MSc in Forensic Anthropology, three years later. She is also an experienced osteo-archaeologist, and examined human remains excavated from many archaeological sites around the world, including those excavated as a consequence of the Spitalfields Project, where almost 1000 people, who lived and died in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, and were buried in crypt beneath Christ and all Saints Church, Spitalfields, London.
In recent years Professor Cox has regularly undertaken work for both the UK and Australian ministries of defence, and is currently Scientific Advisor (responsible for archaeology, anthropology and identification) to the UK and Australian Governments for the Fromelles Project. This unique project has witnessed the excavation of 250 Australian and British soldiers buried in six mass graves by the German Army near Fromelles village in northern France in 1916. This project has been cutting edge in combining forensic and archaeological methods with anthropology, radiography, DNA and other scientific analyses, all undertaken in compliance with strict scene of crime protocols. To-date, 124 Australian soldiers have been identified to their names using a bespoke methodology that is compliant with all relevant international protocols. This has utilized all available data sets including DNA.
Professor Cox was honoured with the European Union's - Woman of Achievement Award (Humanitarian section) in 2002 for her work investigating violations of human rights in such areas as Rwanda and Kosovo.
Bibliography :
- Cox, M, Flavel, A, Hanson, I, Laver , J, Wessling, R (Eds.). 2008. The Scientific Excavation of Mass Graves: Towards Protocols and Standard Operating Procedures. Cambridge University Press.
- Cox, M. 2010. The Scientific Overview and ID. pp. 57-61. In Remembering Fromelles: A new cemetery for a new century. Ed J. Summers. CWGC Publishing. UK.
- Jones, P. 2010. The Use of DNA Profiling. The Scientific Overview and ID. pp. 63-67. In Remembering Fromelles: A new cemetery for a new century. Ed J. Summers. CWGC Publishing. UK.
- Loe, L. 2010. Uncovering the Fallen. In Remembering Fromelles: A new cemetery for a new century. Ed J. Summers. CWGC Publishing. UK.
- Loe, L, et al. 2014 - in preparation. The Fromelles Project.
Transition