Brown archaeologists apply their training to WTC recovery effort

The effort has lead to a greater understanding among emergency response groups locally and nationally of the need for archaeological methodology to recover remains, and to the creation of an emergency response network of archaeologists prepared to go to disaster sites.

by Tracie Sweeney

When Richard Gould traveled to New York City in early October, his aching heart tried to make sense of the World Trade Center devastation, and his archaeologist's eye saw what others could not: tiny fragments of bone mixed with the ash and dust that coated the landscape of lower Manhattan.

Gould, who chairs Brown's anthropology department, knew that even the smallest bits might yield enough genetic material to identify a victim of the World Trade Center collapse. But the recovery efforts were focused on ground zero, not in the alleys, ledges and rooftops beyond, where Gould had traveled.

During the next few weeks, Gould shared information about the remains he had seen with a colleague, anthropologist Sophia Perdikaris of Brooklyn College, and a variety of city, state and federal offices responsible for the recovery effort in New York City. Although sympathetic, the officials noted they lacked the time and the training needed to sift through ash for remains.

Undeterred, Gould and Perdikaris knew their scientific training could be an asset to someone, somewhere. “We have academic expertise that can be made practical,” said Gould. They set out to gain permission from whoever could give it.

That person was Robert Shaler, M.D., who oversees DNA identification of World Trade Center victims for the New York Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. Could archaeologists and anthropologists, using field methodology, find identifiable remains beyond ground zero? “It’s worth at least investigation,” Shaler said.

Shaler authorized Gould and Perdikaris to take a team of volunteers from Brown and Brooklyn College to a Barclay Street parking lot the professors had scouted in November as a possible site of human remains.

The volunteers had experience in field archaeology, and many had worked with human remains. What they needed, however, was additional training. The Brown team connected with a variety of agencies that were eager to assist: the Providence Fire Department taught them how to handle hazardous material; the R.I. State Crime Laboratory and the State Medical Examiner, Dr. Elizabeth Laposata, taught them about the protocol and paperwork required for evidence collected in a crime scene; a representative from the Army’s Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii briefed them on crime-scene investigation.

At the same time, the Brooklyn team received training in forensic anthropology.

By early March, the group was ready to begin the recovery effort. The Brown team, led by Gould, included anthropology graduate students Jennifer Trunzo, Paul White, Gabriel Flores, Julie Esdale, Leah Rosenmeier and Brian Gohacki; research fellow Katharine Woodhouse-Beyer; James Harper, director of the Bio-Med animal care facility, who served as the medical officer; Hilliary Creely, a firefighter and EMT who served as the group’s safety officer; and two volunteers from the Providence Police Department – Sgt. Napoleon Brito and Det. Patricia Cornell. Perdikaris led the Brooklyn College team of Jennifer Borishansky, Jennifer Braun, Matthew Brown and Marianna Betti.

The volunteers worked at the site March 2 and 3. Ninety buckets of soil, ash and debris were put through a mesh sieve, yielding 10 pieces of bone that were placed into evidence bags and delivered to Shaler’s office for testing.

The initial findings were inconclusive – a profound disappointment for Gould and the others. On March 26, however, the Fire Department of New York announced findings of human remains scattered widely over lower Manhattan in the precise locations encountered by Gould in early October and by the recovery group in early March.

Gould sees value in maintaining a team of volunteer archaeologists who are on call to perform forensic recoveries in debris areas outside a crime scene.

So do other officials in and around ground zero who watched the team’s work with interest. One of them – the Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Teams – recently called Gould to encourage the Brown team to seek a formal affiliation with DMORT, as it is called. DMORT is a civilian volunteer agency that works nationwide under the sponsorship of the U.S. Public Health Service. Volunteers are on call to travel to disaster sites at the invitation of other agencies.

The trip to New York demonstrated that Gould's vision of forensic archaeology teams has strong potential. He foresees a time when small teams of archaeologists and anthropologists who have undergone training similar to that undertaken by the Brown group could be called up to any disaster site, and hopes to begin on the community level. “Our team is good to go in Rhode Island immediately if there were an emergency,” he said. “We are building working relationships with the city’s police and fire departments, the state crime lab, and other community organizations,” he said.

“The complete excavation at the Barclay Street site took only one day, so it is clear that work of this kind can proceed rapidly,” Gould noted. “This should lay to rest any idea that archaeologists always work slowly and would delay other urgent recovery tasks.”