K9’s Search for Historic Human Remains
at Future Expansion Area for Tuolumne Cemetery

Story and photos by Thomas Atkins

On the sunny Saturday morning of March 14th, seven members of the Historical Grave Detection Group (HGDG) gathered at Carter’s Cemetery on the hill above Tuolumne to investigate the proposed 4.5 acres designated for the expansion of the cemetery. Equipped with GPS devices, walkie-talkies, flags and notepads, the crew, who had been hired by the cemetery board of directors to search for potential unmarked burials on the recently purchased property, was ready for the hunt. However, this quest would be impossible without the help of their sidekicks - highly trained Historical Human Remains Detection (HHRD) dogs. With noses to the ground, these furry, four-legged friends would be the ones conducting the investigation.

Although using dogs to help locate historical or archaeological graves is a relatively new concept, an HHRD trained canine may be the remote sensing tool of the future. Formed by a combination of the Forensic Evidence (FE) and Historical Human Remains Detection (HHRD) dog teams, the HGDG is under the umbrella of the Institute for Canine Forensics (ICF), a non-profit organization in Northern California. ICF canine trainers are "writing the book" in this field and with high certification standards the ICF insures that certified canines are reliable, non-invasive tools to be used in modern archaeology.

For this particular archaeological project, three dogs were brought to the historic cemetery. Founded in 1854, the small plot of land of about seven and a half acres is home to hundreds of tombstones dating back from the pioneers to the present. When the property surrounding the cemetery went up for sale, the cemetery board of directors decided it would be a wise decision to make the purchase.

“When the property was available to buy we figured we could expand the cemetery,” said Jerry Whitehead Jr., caretaker of the cemetery since 1999. “Getting this extra property has been in the works for at least two years. We had to go through the appraisal process to see what it was worth, and then go through a survey. It took time, but we weren’t in a hurry. We still have plenty of room in the cemetery. We are buying the property for future generations.”

With the appraisal and survey complete, the property is currently going through the next process…rezoning. It is for this reason the Historical Human Remains Detection dogs were brought in.

“We are doing this just to get the rezoning done and then we will have it for the future,” explained Jerry. “I won’t deal with it, but a hundred years down the road this will already be taken care of. This is the first step and depending on what the dogs find, we’ll have archeologist Shelly Davis-King do an archeological study so we can rezone it for public use. If Native American remains are found we will give them to the tribe to bury, and if non-native remains are found will bury them in the cemetery. We will be having the area west and north of the property to Tuolumne Road and the railroad tracks assessed. Although we are curious about some unmarked graves within the cemetery, the biggest priority is outside the current cemetery property. We want to know if anything is out there.”

If anyone would know, it would be the dogs. The search party, made up of a Border Collie, Labrador and German Shepherd, were trained specifically for finding historical human remains. And each dog became certified after passing the rigorous training process.

“We start with them as a puppy and usually it takes anywhere from a year to two years to get certified,” said Adela Morris, Canine Search Specialist and founder of the ICF. “It takes many years of slow and patient training to develop the skills needed to do this work.”

An evaluator and instructor since 1986, Adela has trained and certified her dogs in area/wilderness searching, human remains detection (land and water), and evidence searching. She now specializes solely in Human Remains Detection.

“We have several locations where we train dogs, and after they learn the basic scents using bones and teeth we like finding old historical cemeteries to train them because you can’t duplicate the scent…well, I guess you could in like 100 years,” she laughed. “So once they understand the basic scents then we start taking them to cemeteries so the dogs understand, ‘Oh, it’s down there!’ The cemeteries we work with have a lot of unmarked graves and we start the puppies there. First we will work the experienced dogs, and once they alert, we will work the younger dogs to teach them the scent there.”

“When we work with the dogs we actually do negatives as well,” added Sal Esposito, Human Remains Detection Canine Handler who joined the ICF in 2007. “When we train with them we may have a field with training materials that are human remains. We will also have animal bones so the dog will get a different scent. They will notice it, but pass it up. They can tell the difference between dead animals and people. It won’t alert on the negative. A detection dog is a detection dog and they learn to scent for one particular item…and that is what they go for. And the training is very specific because you don’t want them alerting on the wrong thing. These dogs are trained to only alert on human remains.”

Even once a dog is trained to alert on human remains and becomes certified, the training never ceases.
“We usually get together three times a week and several of us get together another day for other work, so we are basically training dogs four days a week,” said Adela, who has a two-year-old Border Collie named Eros. “A lot of training goes into these dogs. It’s a full time job. We are constantly training to keep the dogs sharp. They never stop. It’s a lifestyle for the dogs. This is what they do.”

But not any dog can take on this task.
“There are typical breeds that are preferred because of their work ethic,” said Sal who currently has a Border Collie in training. “There are dogs that have a different kind of work ethic than others. Some wouldn’t be interested in this at all, but some just can’t wait. For example, Border Collies are very focused on work. They have to be busy. They would go crazy if they were expected to be a fireplace dog. You can put dogs like these out in the field for long periods of time and they will be energetic and interested in their work.”

Yet although the dogs are energetic, keeping their noses to the ground for hours at a time is not easy work.
“When the dogs are working over burials it is intense work for them,” said Adela. “If you think about live scent, we are constantly giving off scent…and it is easy…but those old folks…it’s a much more subtle scent, so it’s hard work on them. If you’ve got a person who recently died out there, they are putting out a lot of scent. Even we could probably find some of them, but the older stuff it really takes a lot of training and a special dog to do it…its not that instant gratification.”

“Sometimes they literally get lost because they will go…’there is one here, one there…’ as they try to figure out where is the strongest scent,” added Canine Search Specialist Kris Black, who has been working with dogs since 2000. “They can be a few feet off because for example a gopher hole could be bringing up a stronger scent in a certain place. Usually with the older graves they are pretty accurate because there is 100 years of scent coming up. But it usually takes them a few minutes to settle down because they are so overwhelmed. Sometimes we have to calm them down so they can just show us one grave at a time.”

“We can’t smell what they smell, but to them it would be like walking into a factory full of really strong scents and telling the dog to just find the strawberry flavor when there are thousands of flavors,” said Adela. “So they go through a few minutes of just processing. One of the things humans can’t do is process the scents like the dogs can. They can decipher between everything that is going on around them. They’ll be exhausted when they are done. That is a lot of territory to cover.”

As the dogs and the handlers began to cover this territory, an assistant, known as a flanker, would put flags down in places where the dogs alerted or showed a high interest in the area.

“We always make sure there is a flanker to assist the dog handler,” explained Sal. “They will keep notes and help the dog handler flag, map, and assist because there is a lot of concentration between the handler and the dog. The less distractions the dog and the handler have, the better. You have to be ever vigilant watching the dog – what it’s doing and its body language because just alerting is only part of it. They also move a certain way or their head will pop a certain way and the handler will know certain areas to recheck. You are never really sure…soil could have washed down from the graveyard bringing a scent with it. You never can be sure because scent can travel.”

During a search along the outer border of the cemetery, proof of this traveling scent occurred after a dog alerted next to a synthetic flower that had once been placed on a grave.

“The scent from the grave traveled through the soil to the flower and caused her to alert,” said Sal. “It was the same way when she smelled up and around the wooden headstone in the cemetery because the wood takes the scent out of the ground.”

When the dog “alerts,” it means it has found something and will lie down at the spot with the strongest scent. Each time they alert, their hard work is rewarded.
“They are rewarded after they alert,” said Kris, handler of a German Shepherd named Osara. “We use food, or toys. My dog never gets this toy unless she’s working.”
However, to the spectator, it may often seem like there is much work being done.

“It can be like watching grass grow,” said Sal. “This kind of searching requires the dog to be slow and methodical and keep its nose just above the surface of the ground. The dogs move very slowly and they may not even alert. We may do this whole area and not find anything.”

As the dogs, the handlers and flankers roamed the grounds they would often stop to give the dogs a rest.
“A high level handler knows when it’s time for their dogs to take a break,” explained Sal. “Because when a dog gets tired…they are done. That is why you don’t want to push them too much. They aren’t getting paid except for their toy… and sometimes the toy isn’t worth dying for. It is very intense work in the dog’s head…they are very focused. This is not easy for a dog to do.”

But at least the working conditions that day were favorable.
“This is perfect conditions,” said Adela. “Its comfortable, its cool, the ground is damp. It’s good scent conditions…which is really important. Soil conditions in many areas of California make grave searching very challenging because of the adobe clay. In winter, this heavy clay soil becomes saturated with water trapping the fragile scent; and in summer, the clay soil becomes very hard. We take soil temperatures to make sure the dogs are ok and for our statistics. If it was hot we wouldn’t be able to stay very long because the dogs need cool, moist conditions.”

“When it’s hot, their work time is shorter,” added Sal. “You take these dogs out to Bodie in the summertime when their nose is right on the 130 degree ground, it is much harder work. Put yourself in their shoes…trying to sniff heat…how long could you do it! Two minutes? Three minutes? They do this for hours! There are very few dogs that can do this work.”

“There are very few people that know dogs do this,” laughed Jerry as we watched the dogs from the cemetery fence.

“This is true,” said Sal. “Everyone knows about search and rescue dogs, but not many know about these dogs. They aren’t your typical police dogs. But there is a lot of use for these dogs and this kind of work. For example we worked in L.A. on the Charles Manson cases.”

Other notable ICF archeological projects include:
WWII Dive-bomber Crash Site in Watsonville, CA; Bayley House Family Plot (1896) in Pilot Hill, CA; Boca Cemetery (1866) in Truckee, CA; Donner Party Campsite Search in Alder Creek, CA; Lolo’s Grave, Lewis and Clark Trail in Montana; Washoe Cemetery, Camp Richardson in South Lake Tahoe, CA; as well as several ancient Indian burial sites.

Many of these searches were done alongside Forest Service or Cal Trans crews. In fact ICF’s dogs were used to search for historic evidence when the Sonora overpass was put in and the bypass to the Black Oak Casino.
“We’ve been in this neck of the woods before,” said Shirley Hammond, the most knowledgeable of the group with over 30 years of experience. “I’ve searched in Tuolumne County many, many times.”

“We were at the Jamestown Cemetery awhile back when they were widening the road, because often times there were people that weren’t buried in the cemetery proper because they may have done something where society thought they deserved to buried outside of it,” said Adela. “We worked a little section, but didn’t find anything.”
Yet sometimes, working a little section can reveal a precious reward.

In fact ICF’s greatest find was on a small un-surveyed section of land in the Czech Republic.”One of our members who grew up in the Czech Republic has done some work over there and established relationships with archeologists and works a lot of the sites,” explained Adela. “There is a lot of old stuff over there and last year she got to work a site where she was told, ‘we know we have burials here that are thousands of years old…but we don’t think there are any over there. We checked, but don’t think so…but if you want to work the dog…go for it.’ So she worked the dog and the dog alerted, and because they trust us enough, they dug it…and ten feet down they found a beautiful burial with a glass vase and some really nice artifacts. So we have a documented dog find at a site that was over 2,000 years old! This was very exciting because it’s documented by archeologists and it’s proof that it was truly a dog find.

We do a lot of ancient Native American searches in the U.S., but unfortunately for us, they don’t want to verify them. They know it exists in an area and when the dogs alert, they say ‘good enough for us.’ For Tribal burials they don’t want you to dig, they just want to know that people were buried there. So it’s good for them…but not for us because we want to know all the statistics. We want to know if the dogs were a foot to the right or to the left and how deep was the burial. We want to know everything so when we show up in places we can say, ‘here is our spreadsheet.’ But we are often just called in to show where not to dig or where to avoid. A lot of the work we do is just to let people know which areas to avoid…which doesn’t give us good statistics either.”

Yet it looks like they could be getting some future statistics from their search around Carter Cemetery. After nearly five hours of roaming the grounds in and around the cemetery, they ended up flagging several potential burial areas.
“If they confirm the places they marked in the field, the next step will be to contact the tribe and they will come in and dig it up,” said Jerry. “The tribe will do the dig and they will be able to determine if it is a native or a non-native. We don’t know what they will find…they might be Native Americans or pioneers.”

“It is not an exact science…but I would bet my money on a dog’s nose before I bet on a lot of other things,” said Sal. “We will do confirmations from different dogs at places that have been marked and if they all alert in the same spot…then something is probably there.”
Although the dogs were unable to finish searching all of the property outside of the cemetery, they were able to clear up some questions that Jerry had within the boundaries.

“We had some unmarked graves and we weren’t sure if anyone is actually buried there,” said Jerry. “There were a couple places that we were curious about, and they did a search in an area where there were a couple of blank rows. The dogs did alert that there was people buried there which we didn’t have any record of. The way the flags are in there…it’s almost like a row. There are three flags in one row, three in another and two in another. And our records show that we don’t have anyone buried there…and they think there is. So the area has been used, but we don’t know who is there. And there was something just outside the fence line that they found and they think someone is actually outside the cemetery. They had a strong feeling that someone got buried out of bounds before they put the fence in.”

All of these mysteries…and possibly more will be uncovered after the K9’s complete the search in the week’s to come, and the potential graves are unearthed. The SMT will be reporting on what they discover. Stay tuned!