Scientists at this site in Tulsa, Okla., will begin excavations by hand, using finer grained tools to clean the coffins. That will help researchers analyze the construction style and hardware of the coffins to determine when they were put together.
City of Tulsa
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City of Tulsa
Scientists at this site in Tulsa, Okla., will begin the excavation by hand, using finer grained tools to clean the coffins. That will help researchers analyze the construction style and hardware of the coffins to determine when they were put together.
City of Tulsa
Researchers have excavated 21 more unmarked adult graves that may be related to the victims of 1921 Tulsa . Race Massacre.
Tulsa, Okla., City official announced on Monday that 17 adult-sized graves had been discovered at an excavation site in Oaklawn Cemetery and four more were found on Tuesday, including two child-sized.
The project is part of the city’s years-long effort to get an accurate count of the number of people killed when a white mob ravaged Tulsa’s affluent Greenwood neighborhood, where black residents lived under segregation. Special by Jim Crow.
Some historians estimate up to 300 black people were killed during the attack and the days of martial law that followed. Nearly all are believed to have been buried in a series of mass graves approved by the white authorities of the time. Under the temporary restrictions, Black family members of the deceased were prohibited from witnessing the burial, as they were given armed protection, away from the mother, father, son and daughter who had died. their death.
Historical documents document the origin of the riot as an incident between a young black man and a white woman in a downtown elevator. The man, who worked as a shoe shiner and was in the elevator on his way to the restroom, was accused of insulting the woman, who operates the elevator.
The incident occurred shortly after a series of racing riots swept through the county in 1919.
Scientists will start digging by hand
Scientists at the Tulsa site will now begin excavation by hand, using finer grained tools to clean the coffins, follow to the state Archaeologist Kary Stackelbeck. That will help researchers analyze the construction style and hardware of the coffins to determine when they were put together.
“This will be part of the process of distinguishing what we’re going to do in terms of excavating those individuals and what we’re actually going to leave in place, at least for now,” she said. more.
The researchers also found 19 unidentified bodies in 2o21 that were later reburied.
“But testing on a few doesn’t yield good results,” Stackelbeck said in one update last week. Now, she explained, teams are going back to those bodies to “take some more samples and hopefully get some better results.”
“Like last year, we are trying to make every step of this process as respectful as possible,” she said.
A pastor or another member of the clergy will also be present when the remains are transported to the forensic laboratory.
Excavation is expected to be completed in November 18
