Identification and analysis of human remains recovered from wells from the 1991 War in Croatia

Abstract From 1996 to the present, the remains of 61 individuals killed during the 1991 War in Croatia were recovered from both dried out and functioning wells. Positive identification was established in 60.7% or 37/61 cases. Remains recovered from the same geographical region but from non-well settings were identified in 77.4% or 1256/1623 cases. The purpose of this paper is to report on the taphonomic, demographic and trauma characteristics of remains recovered from wells and identify factors responsible for the discrepancy in the identification ratios. The age and sex distributions in the well and non-well series were similar, as were the frequencies of recovered personal documents, jewelry and other artifacts. The taphonomic features of the remains were, however, significantly different. Preservation of remains was considerably better in non-well settings (1400/1623 or 86.3% compared to 40/61 or 65.5% in wells). Congruently, commingling of remains was more frequent in wells (26/61 or 42.6% compared to 77/1623 or 4.7% in non-well settings). In bodies recovered from non-well settings the preservation, state and commingling of the remains were strongly correlated with positive identification. None of these features were correlated with the identification of bodies from wells. Instead, identification of remains from wells was significantly affected by the presence or absence of water in the well. As both series have similar frequencies, and identical rankings of identification factors, the reason for the discrepancy in the identification ratios lies in the fact that by themselves, these factors were rarely sufficient for positive identification. In both series the majority of identifications (51.4% in the well, and 58.1% in the non-well series) were established through a combination of biological and non-biological features. The significantly lower identification ratio in the well series resulted from the difficult recovery conditions in wells with significant amounts of water, and the negative effect that water had on the preservation of clothing, personal artifacts and some dental features. Significant differences were also noted in the types and locations of perimortem traumas. There is a significantly higher frequency of entrance gunshot wounds to the back of the head, suggestive of execution style murders, in the well series.