Analyzing and Interpreting Lime Burials from the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939): A Case Study from La Carcavilla Cemetery |
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| Authors: | Eline M J Schotsmans PhD Almudena García‐Rubio MSc Howell G M Edwards PhD Tasnim Munshi PhD Andrew S Wilson PhD Luis Ríos PhD |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Laboratoire PACEA De la Préhistoire à l'Actuel: Culture, Environnement et Anthropologie UMR 5199, Université de Bordeaux, Pessac Cedex, France;2. Department of Archaeological Sciences, University of Bradford, West Yorkshire, UK;3. Unit of Physical Anthropology, Department of Biology, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain;4. Department of Physical Anthropology, Aranzadi Society of Sciences, Donostia, Basque Country, Spain;5. Department of Chemistry, University of Bradford, West Yorkshire, UK;6. School of Chemistry, University of Lincoln, Lincoln, UK;7. Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural Sciences (MNCN‐CSIC), Madrid, Spain |
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| Abstract: | Over 500 victims of the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) were buried in the cemetery of La Carcavilla (Palencia, Spain). White material, observed in several burials, was analyzed with Raman spectroscopy and powder XRD, and confirmed to be lime. Archaeological findings at La Carcavilla's cemetery show that the application of lime was used in an organized way, mostly associated with coffinless interments of victims of Francoist repression. In burials with a lime cast, observations made it possible to draw conclusions regarding the presence of soft tissue at the moment of deposition, the sequence of events, and the presence of clothing and other evidence. This study illustrates the importance of analyzing a burial within the depositional environment and taphonomic context. |
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| Keywords: | forensic science forensic archaeology Spanish Civil War mass grave lime Raman spectroscopy identification |
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