{"id":4545,"date":"2009-06-24T00:25:27","date_gmt":"2009-06-23T13:25:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fffaif.wordpress.com\/?p=4545"},"modified":"2009-06-24T00:25:27","modified_gmt":"2009-06-23T13:25:27","slug":"aussie-archaeologists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/?p=4545","title":{"rendered":"Aussie Archaeologists"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australian Archaeologists at Pheasant Wood<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The British group Oxford Archaeology (OA)\u00a0is responsible for the exhumation of the bodies of British and Australian soldiers who died during the Battle of Fromelles on 19 July 1916 and\u00a0were buried by the German army at Pheasant Wood Fromelles, in northern France.<\/p>\n

\"4<\/a>Photo: Members of the Oxford Archaeology team at work at Pheasant Wood [Carole Laignel]<\/p>\n

Oxford Archaeology has gathered together a team of world experts to carry out this historical process. Click here<\/a> to visit the Oxford Archaeology website.
\nAmongst the expert team working on the exhumation and identification of the battle casualties are two Australians: Professor Richard Wright from the University of Sydney and osteoarchaeologist Ambika Flavel.<\/p>\n

\"Richard<\/a>Photo: Richard Wright [Richard Wright]<\/p>\n

Richard Wright is Emeritus Professor of Anthropology, University of Sydney, Australia. He is the Senior Forensic Adviser to Oxford Archaeology.
\nSince 1990 he has specialised in applying archaeological methods to the discovery and excavation of mass graves. From 1990 to 1991 he directed the excavation of three mass graves in the former Soviet Union (Ukraine). These graves date from 1942 and contained some 800 bodies. This work was done for the Australian Government’s Special Investigations Unit. This unit had pressed charges against former Soviet citizens who had emigrated to Australia. Richard Wright gave expert testimony in Australian courts on these cases.
\nBetween 1997 to 2000 Richard Wright was Chief Archaeologist for the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY). In that role he was on-site director of international teams of archaeologists and human biologists whose job was to locate clandestine mass graves, examine the evidence contained in them, and deliver the bodies and evidence to mortuaries.
\nSince 1990 his work has led to the discovery of more than 90 graves containing some 2,500 bodies. These graves have been in a variety of soil conditions, ranging from dry town waste dumps to waterlogged clays. All the work was done to evidentiary standards and delivered within the specified time frames.
\nHe has given expert testimony at two trials in The Hague.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Ambika_Tim<\/a>Photo: Ambika Flavel [Tim Loveless]<\/p>\n

Ambika Flavel, BSc (Hons), MSc is an osteoarchaeologist who has worked as an archaeologist, anthropologist and forensic consultant, primarily in locating and excavating clandestine graves, and in the analysis of human remains in both domestic and international contexts. She began her career in Western Australia excavating a grave from the Batavia shipwreck in the Abrolhos islands.
\n\u00a0International work began in Bosnia-Herzegovina excavating mass graves pertaining to the Srebrenica massacre for the ICTY under the direction of Professor Richard Wright. She then went on to join the Forensic team in Guatemala where she spent the next few years exhuming and analysing human remains and associated evidence from the era of the Dictator Rios Montt. Family liaison and repatriation of remains were integral aspects of this humanitarian work.
\nAmbika has undertaken multiple missions to Iraq, analysing and repatriating human remains for the Anfal trial, and she spent a season exhuming and analysing remains from clandestine graves from the Franco era in Spain.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"4Photo: Archaeologists at work in Pit 5 Pheasant Wood [Carole Laignel]<\/p>\n

Ambika <\/em>co-authored and co-edited The Scientific Investigation of Mass Graves<\/a>, <\/em>published in 2008.\u00a0 Richard Wright was a contributor as were other members of the Oxford Archaeology team Dr Peter Jones, Dr Louise Loe, Head of Heritage Burial Services, and Tim Loveless.<\/p>\n

\"Book<\/a><\/p>\n

Ambika\u2019s role at Pheasant Wood is as one of two grave supervisors, responsible for the excavation and exhumation of the human remains and associated artefacts, collection of DNA samples, and maintaining chain of custody.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\"DSC_0013_cwgc_sml\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Photo: Oxford Archaeology team\u00a0at work [CWGC]<\/p>\n

\u00a0Ambika is proud of being one of the only two Australians working at Pheasant Wood with the OA team:
\nBeing able to use my expertise and skills to recover the remains of my countrymen is an honour and a privilege. The OA team is committed to undertaking the work with which we are tasked in a professional and respectful manner.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\"Ambika<\/a>Photo: Ambika Flavel and Lambis Englezos AM [Tim Loveless]<\/p>\n

\u00a0*****<\/p>\n

The Families and Friends of the First AIF<\/strong><\/em> thanks the Australian, UK and French governments for affording Australian and British soldiers\u00a0buried in mass graves at Pheasant Wood by\u00a0German soldiers following the Battle of Fromelles\u00a0on 19\/20 July 1916\u00a0dignified individual reburials in a new CWGC cemetery at Fromelles, and applauds\u00a0the joint decision to DNA test the remains at exhumation and use every reasonable method to attempt identification of each soldier.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Australian Archaeologists at Pheasant Wood The British group Oxford Archaeology (OA)\u00a0is responsible for the exhumation of the bodies of British and Australian soldiers who died during the Battle of Fromelles on 19 July 1916 and\u00a0were buried by the German army … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[74],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-top-posts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4545"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4545\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}