Donner Party researchers find no evidence of cannibalism

[BERIGAN]

Donner Party researchers find no evidence of cannibalism

By Betsy Cohen / Lee Newspapers

.

MISSOULA, Mont. — It’s quite likely that Uno, the Donner family dog, became a desperate feast for the starved, ill-fated pioneers when they were trapped by a relentless snowstorm in the Sierra Nevada mountains in 1846.

But Uno may have been the only family member eaten by the Donner Party during the four months they were snowbound in their makeshift mountain camp.

Kelly Dixon, a University of Montana anthropology professor, and Julie Schablitsky, a historical archaeologist at the University of Oregon, had the science world buzzing Thursday after they presented their findings at the Society for Historical Archaeology 2006 Conference on Historical and Underwater Archaeology in Sacramento, Calif.

After three years conducting the most comprehensive Donner camp study ever undertaken — a study that included forensic science, DNA testing and collaboration with experts in the field of trauma, psychology and medicine — the researchers’ work led to a startling conclusion.

The Donner Party cannibalism legend may be just legend after all.

Of the thousands of bone fragments uncovered at the Donner family’s cooking hearth, none were human, Dixon said.

There’s plenty of evidence showing the pioneers dined on rabbit, deer, rodents, their horses and cattle — and on Uno — but no evidence of the human bones promised in legend and historical accounts.

In 2003 and 2004, Dixon and Schablitsky set out to tackle the cannibalism myth by excavating portions of the party’s Alder Creek camp on the Truckee Ranger District, the place where the 21-person Donner family camped.

Six miles up the trail, the rest of the 89-person wagon train, which included the Murphy, Keesberg, Reed and Graves families, camped at a lake, today called Donner Lake.

The scientists’ efforts unearthed remnants of the Donners’ day-to-day life, including thousands of pieces of burned bones, when they discovered a cooking hearth at the family’s Alder Creek Camp.

Pieces of teacups and plates, musket balls, jewelry, wagon parts, a writing slate and bottle shards were found around the hearth, which told the scientists that despite the Donners’ dire circumstances, they attempted to normalize the situation.

A sample of the bone findings bore saw marks, had been chopped and cut, and some were polished, Dixon said. The condition of the bones, and evidence showing they had been boiled in water repeatedly and the marrow scraped out suggest extreme desperation and starvation.

Although no human bones were found, the scientists said they aren’t ignoring written accounts and interviews with some survivors who reported the party had resorted to cannibalism.

One of the most sensational tellings came from survivor John Baptiste Trudeau, a 16-year-old French immigrant who was a teamster for the Donner family.

In 1847, Baptiste claimed: “eat baby raw, stewed some of Jake, and roasted his head, not good meat, taste like sheep with the rot; but sir, very hungry, eat anything."

The description helped turn the story into a legend and served as a cautionary tale for other pioneers on the westward trek to California. However, 40 years after sharing his story, Trudeau recanted what he saw to fellow survivor Eliza Donner, who was 4 years old at the time of the tragedy.

Because the Donner story is rife with historical inconsistencies, Schablitsky said she’s not convinced cannibalism happened at Alder Creek.

“I’m 50-50,” she said. “They may not have cannibalized at all.”

Trudeau’s account is less compelling, not only because he recanted his experience, but also because the researchers now have a better understanding of who he was.

“He was 16, a French immigrant, nobody knew who he was — he was an orphan,” Schablitsky said. “He was nobody, and then all of the sudden because he’s a survivor and cannibalism was said to have taken place, he’s suddenly elevated to stardom and infamy. He probably made the whole thing sound as sexy and gory and sensational as possible."

Jim Reed, a psychologist who specializes in trauma, helped the researchers better understand the mental state of the Donner Party, and the legitimacy of survivor recollections, Dixon said.

Individuals who have endured starvation and trauma are plagued by delirium, and a host of negative physiological changes such as the loss of short-term memory.

“Dr. Reed’s work opened up a whole new way of looking at this event, and he reminded us that we were studying humans who have cognition,” Dixon said. “I never thought about historical records that way, but his input helped explain what happens to the human mind when someone is exposed to trauma, and that made us more leery about the accuracy of the historic record."

The researchers even question the eyewitness accounts of the rescue party, who supported the stories of cannibalism.

“The rescue salvage members came to the camps where bodies had been thawing and freezing and torn apart by wild animals for four months,” Schablitsky said. “How could they determine if cannibalism took place?

“For me, it’s a question of who are the informers in this story and can we believe them?"

“But it doesn’t matter to me if the cannibalism happened or not,” she said. “What the evidence is showing is that it didn’t happen, we don’t have evidence for it."

Dixon said she doesn’t rule out that cannibalism happened in the snowbound, desperate camp, but she’d like evidence to prove that it did.

“This is such a powerful story, and the thing is there should be blatant archaeological evidence that cannibalism took place — and there’s not,” Dixon said. “The Donners have gone through history with this awful brand, which they might not deserve.“

The duo has no opinion about the Lake Camp, and what the 60-some stranded pioneers resorted to when food got lean and their situation worsened.

It could be that the Donner family is guilty by association, Schablitsky said. Lake Camp could have experienced cannibalism.

There are still so many unknowns about the details and the day-to-day life of the doomed party, she said, but she now knows one thing for sure:

“Be careful what you name your wagon train."

Betsy Cohen is a reporter for the Missoulian newspaper in Missoula, Mont.

http://www.lacrossetribune.com/articles/20...ws/01donner.txt

[Randy Twizzle]

One of the most sensational tellings came from survivor John Baptiste Trudeau, a 16-year-old French immigrant who was a teamster for the Donner family.

In 1847, Baptiste claimed: “eat baby raw, stewed some of Jake, and roasted his head, not good meat, taste like sheep with the rot; but sir, very hungry, eat anything."

[RDK]

Well, those French will eat anything...

[Free For All]

Poor Uno- he must not have understood when they said "It's time to wok the dog".

[Kalo]

He was 16, a French immigrant, nobody knew who he was — he was an orphan

Young and tender, unrelated, and French. Gee, if there had been cannibalism, don't you think he'd have been the first to be eaten?

[Jazzmoose]

Sorry to play forum police, but shouldn't this be on the what's for dinner thread?

[RDK]

Sorry to play forum police, but shouldn't this be on the what's for dinner thread?

Welcome back, Moose!