The archaeology of contemporary mass graves

The excavation of mass graves provides information and documentation for both human rights work and for forensic medico-legal investigations. Medico-legal documentation for the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda is a major reason for recent excavation of large mass graves in these countries. The mass grave excavations have been among the largest since World War II. The investigative teams incorporated professional archaeologists sensitized to medico-legal realities, to the realm of decomposed fleshed remains, and who exhibited flexibility in adapting techniques to the forensic context. This paper examines the forensic context of these excavations, the techniques the team developed, and presents a case study from Rwanda.