Discover secrets from tombs

An expert who collected a piece of cloth once belonged to an Australian soldier in the fighting area of ​​Fromelles, northern France, during World War I, when mass grave of British and Australian soldiers were buried. killed during the First World War.

There are many tools for this expert's work, from bulldozers, shovels to sophisticated feather brooms, doctor's surgical tweezers or dentist's mirrors - and his job is to discover secrets deep in the grave.

Trained in investigating war crimes at Srebrenica, Bosnia and investigating the brutal consequences of war in Iraq, Roland Wessling was one of 12 anthropologists who were brought to excavate a burial site. World War I period.

During the next 5 months, the 39-year-old German man will unearth a muddy field outside the northern French village of Fromelles and, if possible, identify the identities of hundreds of soldiers. You and Australia are in it.

A total of about 250 to 400 soldiers were shot and killed in a tragic attack in the adjacent area on July 19, 1916. They were surmised to be buried in five holes outside the village by German troops. Fromelles.

After the bulldozer turned up to the top layer on Tuesday, Wessling and 10 excavators undertook the rest, using shovels and flying like surgical tools to reveal the upper part of the bodies without touch the rest.

'Our biggest concern is to ensure that the bodies will not be harmed at all,' he said. 'After a body has been fully surveyed, and stored in the record, it will be removed intact.'

'The whole process will be carefully carried out to show our respect for the deceased.'

The survey was directed by the Astral Army in 2007 and 2008 to help detect the remains of the five graves, which is probably the largest mass grave found since the end of World War II. most of 1918.

Experts have learned that the bodies lie side by side, divided into two layers, at a depth of approximately 1 meter, and they will dig from the side into the center.

'We think that mainly will only find the remaining bones; however, the first principle in this career is to look forward to something unexpected, ' Wessling said.

'These bodies were lying down more than 90 years ago, but there are still rare possibilities that we will find skin, or tissues like a mummy,' he said.

(Photo: According to PhysOrg)

Wessling had for many years collected evidence for the court, from Bosnia to Iraq, Spain, or the Cyprus region, and worked as a crime scene investigation advisor in the United Kingdom.

In Bosnia, he learned the skill of looking at the cut in the ground to determine if the two graves were dug with the same machine - this could be evidence of organized mass murder. , in other words, genocide.

Also in this case, information about the scene can help answer questions about the identities of soldiers who have fallen.

'Can get a lot of information from the scene,' he said. "If a buttoned shirt is on a soldier's sternum, you may think it belongs to him."

But genetic testing, referring to information provided by the army and the soldiers' families really helped determine the identity of the soldiers - this process was calculated to take 5 years.

Working under makeshift tents under crime scene conditions, with protective vests and masks, the team will take samples from the bones and teeth of each soldier to determine whether there is DNA material to serve. for analysis or not.

'We will conduct a forensic investigation in a reasonable manner, with strict bar code marking and carefully moving from the field to the analytical room,' Peter Jones, genetic consultant for the Grave Committee. The Commonwealth War, who is overseeing excavations here, said.

'There is no way to predict whether genetic material can win time and we can use it for analysis.'

'It seems all are in good condition, because this is an alkaline clay region - but only a carefully tested acidity level helps confirm that,' said Jones.

In addition to these challenges, experts will have to compare genetic patterns, not with samples of close relatives who need to be identified, but with far more relatives, maybe great grandchildren. cousins ​​three generations.

'If we have the proper DNA record, plus other factors such as facial features, paper evidence, then we will identify the identity of a body with high accuracy,' Jones explained.

'But this is a great problem - in fact, I think nobody has ever solved such a great problem.'