Looking for the personality of the remains
We are located on the Navarre Jungle. On the side of the NA-534 road that leads to Irunberri, in the place called Fuente del Garrero. Aranzadi's technicians are excavating a pit.
This picture is not new. In recent years, about 200 such bodies have been deployed throughout Spain and more than 4,000 human remains have been detected. They are the remains of those shot in the Civil War.
In order to find them, the memory of those around them is used first and/or to the sources in which they are written. Next comes the work of technicians and scientists.
For the exact location of the jungle pit, they used the georrhea, a method of scanning the terrain.
PAKO ETXEBERRIA; Aranzadi: We discover the irregularities of the soil by means of georradaz, we see where the rocks are, the loose soil... Normally, when making the pit, they move the soil, and if the soil does not have a lot of water or little clay, it gives us an approximate location, that is, it separates homogeneous soils from the soils in which they are moved, from which we start the excavation.
The most difficult task begins when the bones are found. The technicians gradually clean the soil on which the bones rest. When there is more than one body, the most important thing is the individualization of the remains. They have removed the remains one by one, separating the skeletons.
The remains have been brought to the laboratory of the Faculty of Medicine of Donostia-San Sebastián for anthropological analysis, i.e. to analyze anthropological characteristics such as whether they are male or female, their age, whether they have anthropological peculiarities or not, or whether they have had diseases.
The water carries the last traces of mud from the bones. Once all the bones are cleaned, the skeleton begins to form like a puzzle. First, it sticks to the bones that are broken, and then it shapes the skeleton.
The first step is to separate the sex. We know that there are differences in size and shape between men and women in most of the bones of the body, so this analysis is quite simple.
LOURDES HERRASTI; Aranzadi: There are differences between men and women. In this case, if you look closely, if you look at the forehead, the forehead is straight, it does not have the angle marked here. Men have this much worse.
On the other hand, women tend to have this so-called apophytic mastoid much smaller, while men tend to have it larger and more pronounced. In general, the male is stronger and the female is lighter.
If the skeletons found belong to people of different ages, the differences are evident, but if they are of the same age, the difficulties increase and the analysis becomes more complex.
LOURDES HERRASTI; Aranzadi: Most of the time we look here, that is, here we have the coxal, and in this coxal we look at this surface here, this auricular surface, and also this part here, this face of the symphysis, because it undergoes changes throughout the age and we can extract it according to that, about what age the person is.
There are also other valid bone characteristics, for example the head bone itself; and, for example, in the first sahib and the fourth, whether or not the cartilages are ossified...
The height and complexity of this person is also given to us by the bones. Also, he had a disease, because the ailments leave their marks on his bones.
The anthropological study also shows how these people died. In Obar, the four were shot.
LOURDES HERRASTI; Aranzadi: If we look closely, we find the place of entry below. So, this is where the bullet comes in, crosses his head, and exits from here.
In this case, for example, we interpret that the bullet entered here and left here. And sometimes it's very difficult to know whether it's done up close or far. Most of the time they have been shot, but other times they have also been shot, something that does not always happen, but that is noticeable. We can tell by the size of the hole and the diameter of the hole what kind of projectile was used.
In order to be able to name names, they will resort to DNA analysis. To identify the remains of the jungle, they contain the DNA of the relatives and the analysis will confirm or cancel the identities of those buried in it.
To this end, two yews will be sent to the DNA bank of Vitoria-Gasteiz for analysis.
They usually use a bone or a yew to extract DNA from the old remains. The process is quite complex and delicate. The DNA in the bones or teeth is fragmented and degraded, so it can be more easily contaminated with other, more modern DNA. This is usually done twice.
A thorough cleaning of the pieces is carried out: the stained dirt left by the soil is scraped with scalpel, and the cleaning process is completed by bleach and purified water.
The bone or tooth is ready to be sampled. The purified DNA will be extracted from these samples which are sprayed with the addition of various substances. These substances will rupture the cells to release the DNA.
MARIAN MARTINEZ DE PANCORBO; DNA Bank: It's like a detergent. The purified detergent is added to the sample. The cells have a small membrane, similar to a fat layer, where this detergent breaks and penetrates. The layer opens as if it were a box. Inside the box is the core. The nucleus also opens and the DNA is released.
Various substances are added to the resulting DNA and incorporated into the sequencers so that the DNA strand data can be obtained and read.
It will take at least a week to get the first result. These will be compared to the DNA of the relatives. The analysis process may be terminated.
Finally, the results will be included in a report by the technicians. This type of anthropological analysis will allow the relatives of the remains detected in the Fuente del Garrero area above the Oibar to heal the open wound.
Buletina
Bidali zure helbide elektronikoa eta jaso asteroko buletina zure sarrera-ontzian