Among the trees of a national forest park near Frankfurt, Germany, aligned topographic lines, pennants and excavation squares dotted the ground in exact rows.
With penetration into the ground. Radar, steel detectors, meshes and a host of other tools, a team of university academics and training assistants, led by professors from Indiana University in Pennsylvania, strove to investigate the crash site of a World War II bomber.
The group, led by Andrea Palmiotto and William Chadwick, university members of the IUP’s Department of Anthropology, worked collaboratively with Henry M. Jackson to advance Army Medicine Inc. through the Department of Defense’s POW/MIA accounting firm. to locate “the highest total accounting imaginable for the body of workers who lack conflict beyond the United States. “
According to the agency, as of May, more than 81,000 Americans were still missing from World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Cold War, the Gulf Wars and conflicts. About 75% of the casualties occurred in the India-Pacific region and more than 41,000 of those missing are presumed lost at sea.
This is the third year an organization has traveled to Germany to conduct case surveys at World War II aircraft crash sites.
Eighteen members of the American team participated, in addition to 3 IUP academics and one alumnus. They excavated materials, conducted radar research, and surveyed the landscape to get the main points about what happened at the site. For six weeks, starting in early July, the team worked to locate evidence of the 3 infantrymen who were aboard the B-17 aircraft when it crashed.
While the team can’t yet talk about the main points of what they found, as the curtains are being studied in the agency’s labs, professors say the program is a wonderful opportunity to give academics hands-on experience in forensic archaeology, as well as the chance to contribute to real-world research.
“I love doing this like a box school,” Palmiotto said. “I used to work with (the agency) before I joined IUP, so I knew the project well, but I had the possibility to bring academics here and teach them while giving them a contribution to this project is one of my favorite parts. “
“This is significant for the families of the missing as well as for the academics involved,” said Ben Ford, director of the IUP’s anthropology department. “In archaeology and forensics, you never know exactly what you’re going to find. If you knew what you’re going to find, we wouldn’t have to do the job. There are many unknowns.
Archaeological research
While the team worked on the project, they kept an eye on anything that was out of place. The debris may indicate what parts of the plane they could recover, said Chadwick, who has not yet been to Germany this year and is a leader on the project.
“This helps guide the direction of excavations,” Chadwick said. “There were three other people in three other places (on the plane) and, as you dig, you look at the materials coming out. They may have made sure that gadgets or computers, and if you locate that computer, you get closer to where the user is after the event.
Every piece of dirt leaked out, Palmiotto said.
“Some things are so small that we don’t need to overlook them,” he said, adding that the organization takes meticulous notes and pinpoints the GPS location of everything. Excavations end at the end of the project, so the detailed notes are for long-term research, he said.
“We excavated those best, lovely squares, fixed them on the map exactly, exactly where they are. “
For the academics involved in the project, a typical day began with drawing up a plan, according to Tyler Fanell, an IUP training assistant. His role as team leader was to lead groups of academics in the field, train excavation techniques and share his knowledge. own experience through mentoring.
“My days consist of coordinating the box rules and excavation goals for the day with (Dr. Palmiotto) and my colleague, Emily Sykora, the other team leader. From there, my team and I started the day’s excavations,” Fanell said.
Students in the program gain valuable experience while contributing to a mission, Fanell explained.
“The most rewarding component of this assignment was being able to work with the students, whose jobs in archaeological excavations are very varied, helping them to continue learning box strategies and, in particular, their excavation skills at the same time,” he said.
Teaching cashier skills
It combines history, forensic science and archaeology, Chadwick said.
Participants are introduced to box techniques on how to excavate, map, and take notes at a site, as well as how to interpret those effects so they know where to dig next. Chadwick described it as a “historic crime scene. “
“Everything that constitutes evidence, that is, bones or non-public objects, is preserved for the project,” he said. “The parts of the aircraft are not preserved, the aircraft is not a component of the mission. We send it to a recycler, all the metal.
Ford said the IUP has a strong anthropology program, which is helping facilitate projects like this.
“A lot of what we do here is called implemented anthropology, that is, anthropological approaches to solving real-world problems,” he said. “The other people who came here before us did wonderful things, and we’re continuing that legacy. “and seeking to exercise academics to think about the big world. “
Ramon Espinoza, a sophomore at Princeton University who participated in the project, said the box school teaches things that can’t be explained in class.
“This experience has shown itself to be incredibly favorable for scholars interested in entering the fields of archaeology and provides a unique combination of theoretical wisdom and practical skills that is difficult, I would even say, to reflect in a classroom,” he said. “The opportunity “Paintings about real-life cases with (the agency) also allow us to perceive the demanding situations and everyday jobs related to this type of paintings. “
Espinoza, a veteran, takes the impact of the task very seriously.
“This multidisciplinary technique complements our ability to interpret discoveries more as they should be and link them to the human stories behind the artifacts and remains, a facet that is meaningful to me as a veteran of the war in Afghanistan,” he said. Not only does it foster a deep appreciation of the ancient importance of our work, but it also instills a sense of duty and duty to preserve our nation’s history and respect those who made the ultimate sacrifice. “
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