The “Boat Place” Burial: New Skeletal Evidence from the 1845 Franklin Expedition

Abstract

ABSTRACT. In 2013, a burial feature was excavated at NgLj-3, a Franklin expedition archaeological site on

DNA analysis of human skeletal remains from the 1845 Franklin expedition

“…Keenleyside et al (1996Keenleyside et al ( , 1997 conducted similar analyses on the remains from NgLj-2, including a detailed study of cut marks, consistent with Inuit accounts of cannibalism, found on nearly one-quarter of the bones. Analysis of the skeletal remains from NgLj-3 has also been published (Stenton et al, 2015). Based on these studies, determinations of sex, estimates of age and stature, and assessments of ancestry and disease (e.g., scurvy) are consistent with what would be expected for the officers and crews of HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, and closely match historical records and archaeological evidence.…”

“…Of particular importance is a small group of sites discovered along the southern shore of Erebus Bay, which have yielded the largest known collection of human skeletal remains from the expedition. The attribution of the human remains found at Erebus Bay as originating from members of the 1845 Franklin Northwest Passage expedition is based on historical, archaeological and bioarchaeological information and analyses (e.g., McClintock, 1860;Hall, 1869;Schwatka, 1965;Beattie, 1982;Ranford, 1994;Bertulli, 1995;Keenleyside et al, 1997;Stenton et al, 2015). From an expedition cairn record discovered in May 1859, it was learned that as of April 1848, 105 men had survived and had deserted HMS Erebus and HMS Terror on April 22, 1848.…”

“…Investigations conducted at the site between 2012 and 2016 yielded approximately 350 additional artifacts, many of which are diagnostic of the dismantling of a Royal Navy boat. A human scapula and vertebra were found on the surface in 2012, and excavation of the burial feature in 2013 yielded an additional 76 human bones (Stenton et al, 2015). In 2014, the remains were returned to the site and placed in a sealed container over which the 1996 memorial cairn was rebuilt.…”

“…A third individual whose amelogenin locus analysis was consistent with being female is represented by a maxillary molar from site NgLj-3 (NgLj-3:16) from a partial maxilla which may belong with one of the three crania recovered from NgLj-3 (cranium NgLj-3:79) (Stenton et al, 2015). This cranium and the other two recovered from the same site (NgLj-3:35 and NgLj-3:80), both of which had intact maxillary bones, were all assessed to be male based on morphological features.…”

“…These results presented an opportunity to investigate the degree of post-depositional dispersion that has occurred at these sites. Unfortunately, the remains from NgLj-3 had been collected from the surrounding area and buried in 1879, thus eliminating any possibility of spatial analysis (Stenton et al, 2015). Provenience data is available, however, for NgLj-2, which is characterized by a predominantly surface scatter of human remains and artifacts over an area approximately 200 m long by 80 m wide (Bertulli, 1995).…”