The Pig Dig: A Mock Crime Scene Exercise for a Forensic Archaeology Field School

An archaeological field school based on excavation of pig burials provides many advantages to both students and instructors. Students conduct a surface survey to find the burials and excavate complex features utilizing all the standard techniques of field Because the burials are interpreted as unnatural deaths, students must follow many lines of evidence to answer the questions “What can we deduce about the identity of the victim?” and “What might have been the manner and cause of death?” Instructors are not absolutely certain what students will find, as some “evidence” may not have been preserved, but know that many bones will come back to the lab for cleaning and analysis.