Suspect burial excavation procedure: a cautionary tale.
Geographic location, time of reporting and need for rapid evaluation contributed to a lack of intelligence concerning a suspect burial site in scrub woodland (approximately 15 km from the last known location of a missing person) in Northern Ireland. Police received reports of a subsiding 'grave', which was evaluated positively using GPR and victim recovery dogs (VRD). After 24h work, archaeological excavation showed a vertical-sided, stepped excavation on undisturbed clay with no inhumation. Subsequent research showed the feature to be an engineering trial pit. The GPR response was a water table and rocks, VRD were possibly reacting to disturbed ground. The work serves as a demonstration of good archaeological practice in suspect burial excavation, following a lack of landscape evaluation and poor overall intelligence.
Ruffell
Alastair
A
School of Geography, Archaeology & Palaeoecology, Queen's University Belfast, BT7 1NN Northern Ireland, UK. a.ruffell@qub.ac.uk
Donnelly
Colm
C
Carver
Naomi
N
Murphy
Eileen
E
Murray
Emily
E
McCambridge
James
J
D002048:Burial; D018732:Forensic Anthropology; D006801:Humans; D011825:Radar; D014197:Trees