What Using Historical Human Remains Detection Dogs Brings to the Indigenous Community

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Nondestructive Alternatives: Canine Remote Sensing (Scenting)" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

For many Indigenous communities, it is a continuous effort to protect cultural landscapes, sacred places or locations of unmarked burials. However, many communities also wish to avoid ground-disturbing activities within these spaces. These sites can only be protected if their location is known. Indigenous communities are reaching out and looking for more innovative survey methods, including the use of Historic Human Remains Detection (HHRD) dogs. Also, by combining methods it can offer compelling information to help start a dialogue of compromise so all involved parties can find a solution to protecting these sites. Indigenous communities are also asking for the use of HHRD dogs to help identify items in institutional or academic collections that might be human remains or funerary items. This presentation will explore some of the concerns and requests for Native communities and offer possible new ideas and solutions.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• Nondestructive Alternatives: Canine Remote Sensing (Scenting)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 50383