By Susan Lent, Public Information Officer
Photos courtesy of District 9

Photos: Caltrans District 9 Archaeologist Tom Mills.
Dogs: 4-year-old Australian Shepherd, Maya, with handlers James Davidson and Ann Anderson. 4-year-old Border Collie Rhea; 1-year-old Border Collie Shiloh; and 2-year-old Jack, a Labrador Retriever. Maya, Rhea, and Jack are all state-certified human remains detection specialists, and Shiloh is currently undergoing certification training.

Since Terald Goodwin notified Caltrans that he remembered an historic Native American burial ground near the two proposed southbound lanes of U.S. Highway 395, Archaeologist Tom Mills has been proactively working to locate it. Goodwin, a Native American, thought there were 12 burial sites and remembered his grandmother scattering crushed, blue glass beads over unmarked graves. The last burial occurred around 1926.

Mills considered two ways to identify the areas concerned. The first option, using ground-penetrating radar, did not seem feasible in this case because there was no visual grave evidence. Without any definite indicators, he determined it would take too much time to discover and identify the site’s boundaries using radar.

Prehistoric Archaeology and "Man’s Best Friend"
Using forensic search dogs specifically trained to find a decomposed human tissue scent source was the more promising option, because forensic search dogs have proven to be accurate in the past. They were successful in pinpointing the Donner Party pioneer campsite in Truckee, California; a mid-1600s burial site in Pardubice, Czech Republic; and the unmarked grave of a trail-blazing fur trapper named Lolo on Montana’s Lewis and Clark Trail.

Mills determined that using search dogs for this project would be cost-effective and, most importantly, leave the area undisturbed. Four dogs and their individual handlers from the Institute for Canine Forensics joined with Caltrans staff in May to systematically check the area. Handlers watched as each dog searched the area separately. When a dog "alerted to a scent," identifying a gravesite area, a small flag was placed at the location. The flags were removed before the next dog searched the same area. All four dogs separately identified the same 13 sites during the eight hours the team worked. The areas identified by the team, where some blue and red glass beads were found, were larger than Caltrans staff had anticipated.

Forensic Search Teams Work Together
The search team – Ann and Rob Anderson (handling Jack, a black Lab), James Davidson (with Australian Shepherd Maya), and Adela Morris and Tom Pomeroy (handling border collies Rhea and Shiloh respectively) – did a fine job. "I was totally amazed with how the dogs are trained and actually do the work," Mills said. "I think they will eventually become a major tool used in Prehistoric Archaeology."

"This burial ground will be formally recorded during the next phase of our cultural work on the project, and will be avoided during any construction. The nature of the site and its location will be kept confidential in accordance with state and federal laws."

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