- In order to help investigators find mass graves, researchers are going to create some – with pigs.
- Evidence of history's great tragedies – the Holocaust, Pinochet's reign in Chile, Joseph Stalin's in the Soviet Union and genocides in Africa – often come in the form of mass graves, where hundreds (or more) of bodies are buried. Without specific evidence, these graves can take years to find, if they're found at all.
- A new research project in Colombia seeks to use clues from the earth to help uncover missing "clandestine graves," whether they are from mass murders or individuals that have gone missing.
- In order to test the best methods for finding a clandestine grave...[researchers]...are setting up several "simulated graves" in Bogota, using pigs as stand-ins for human bodies. The pigs will be buried at varying depths and in different types of soil. The land will then be monitored over the course of 18 months to study how pig bodies decompose and to see whether there are any above-ground markers law enforcement can look for when searching for human grave sites.
- "Pigs are very similar to humans, are of similar size, have similar organ size, body fat to tissue ratios and hair and skin types," he says.
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