Warning
Some viewers might find human remains disturbing. Viewer discretion is advised.
No victims or relatives of any living person are shown below.
No Aboriginal remains are shown below.
Dr Louise Steding investigates unmarked burials within historic cemeteries as well as the clandestine burials of missing persons, either recent or long term cases.
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She has excavated and recorded burial grounds, crypts and clandestine graves from the Early and Late Neolithic, to the Bronze Age and Renaissance Europe to human remains from Colonial Australia and more recent years.
Archaeology and Cold Cases
Excavation techniques, stratigraphic contexts, soil sampling, sieving for bone and identifying artefacts are intrinsic to archaeology, as we try to decipher how a site or scene was created and to identify characteristics of those who created it.
Archaeological methods for the recovery of human remains depend on their circumstances. For Dr Steding, recording the site context and positioning of human bone, identifying associated potential exhibits, and soil sampling, are all part of the systematic recovery stage of these deceased people.
We approach each case being as fully informed as possible, working backwards through time - no matter how narrow that time interval may be.
