Abstract
The establishment of two international ad hoc tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, and the creation of an International Criminal Court within the next five years, has increased the need for archaeologists who can assist in the exhumation of individual and mass graves associated with war crimes and genocide throughout the world. This work examines the efforts of teams of archaeologists and forensic scientists which have investigated forced disappearances, political killings, and war crimes in Argentina, Guatemala, Iraqi Kurdistan, and the former Yugoslavia since 1984. As more archaeologists enter this growing field, it is becoming apparent that their training at the university and post-graduate level needs to be supplemented with courses that will better prepare them for international forensic work. Not only do they need to be trained in forensic methods and procedures, they also need to be knowledgeable of legal and evidenciary procedures and the political and cultural dynamics of the countries where they will be working.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Americas Watch 1987 Truth and Partial Justice. Human Rights Publications, New York, NY.
Americas Watch and Physicians for Human Rights 1991 Guatemala: Getting Away with Murder. Human Rights Publications, New York, NY.
Amnesty International 1981 Guatemala: A Government Program of Political Murder. Amnesty International Publications, London, England.
Anderson, Kenneth 1993 The Anfal Campaign in Iraqi Kurdistan: The Destruction of Koreme. Human Rights Watch and Physicians for Human Rights, New York, NY.
Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team 1992 Annual Report. Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Bishop, William W., Jr. 1962 International Law: Cases and Materials. Little Brown and Co., Boston, MA.
Boles, T. Christian, Clyde C. Snow, and Eric Stover 1995 Forensic DNA Testing on Skeletal Remains from Mass Graves: A Pilot Project in Guatemala. Journal of Forensic Sciences, 40(3):349–355.
Commission for Historical Clarification 1999 Guatemala: Memory of Silence. Guatemala City, Guatemala.
Equipo de Antropologia Forense de Guatemala 1995 Las masacres de Rabinal: Estudio Historica Antropologico de las Masacres de Plan de Sanchez, Chichupac y Rio Negro. Ciudad de Guatemala, Guatemala.
Freund, Marketa 1979 The Law and Human Rights in Argentina. Worldview, May:37–41.
Galbraith, Peter 1991 Kurdistan in the Time of Saddam Hussein: A Staff Report to the Committee on Foreign Relations of the United States Senate. United States Senate, Washington, DC.
Goldman, Francisco 1996 In Guatemala, All is Forgotten. New York Times, 23 December:A13. New York, NY.
Gorlitz, Walter (editor) 1965 The Memoirs of Field Marshall Keitel. William Kimber, London, England.
Hayner, Priscilla B. 1996 Commissioning the Truth: Further Research Questions. Third World Quarterly, 1:19–27.
Joyce, Christopher, and Eric Stover 1991 Witnesses from the Grave: The Stories Bones Tell. Little Brown, Boston, MA.
Junger, Sebastian 1999 The Forensics of War. Vanity Fair, October: 138–154.
King, Mary-Claire 1992 My Mother Will Never Forgive Them. Grand Street, 11(2):35–53.
Krausnick, Helmut, and Martin Broszat 1970 Anatomy of the SS State. Paladin, London, England.
Middle East Watch, and Physicians for Human Rights 1992 Unquiet Graves: The Search for the Disappeared in Iraqi Kurdistan. Middle East Watch and Physicians for Human Rights, Boston, MA.
1993 The Anfal Campaign in Iraqi Kurdistan. Human Rights Publications, New York, NY.
National Commission on the Disappeared 1986 Nunca Mas. Faber and Faber, London, England.
Penchaszeh, Victor B. 1997 Genetic Identification of Children of the Disappeared in Argentina. JAMWA, 52(1):16–21.
Perera, Victor 1993 Unfinished Conquest: The Guatemala Tragedy. University of California, Berkeley.
Reisman, W. M., and C. T. Antoniou (editors) 1994 The Laws of War: A Comprehensive Collection of Primary Documents on International Laws Governing Armed Conflict. Vintage Books, New York, NY.
Rohter, Larry 1997 Guatemala Digs Up Army’s Secret Cemeteries. New York Times, 7 June:5. New York, NY.
Rojas, Nerio 1982 Medicina Legal. El Ateneo, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Scott, Douglas D., Melissa Connor, and Clyde C. Snow 1988 Nameless Faces of Custer Battlefield. Greasy Grass, 3:1–4.
Shirer, William L. 1960 The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. Simon and Schuster, New York, NY.
Sohn, Louis B., and Thomas Buergenthal 1973 International Protection of Human Rights. Bobbs Merill Co., New York, NY.
Stover, Eric 1997 The Grave at Vukovar. Smithsonian, 27(12)40–51.
Stover, Eric, and Anne Manuel 1991 Guatemala: Getting Away with Murder. Americas Watch and Physicians for Human Rights, New York, NY.
Stover, Eric, and Gilles Peress 1998 The Graves: Srebrenica and Vukovar. Scalo, Zurich, Switzerland.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Stover, E., Ryan, M. Breaking bread with the dead. Hist Arch 35, 7–25 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03374523
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03374523