Scientists Discuss Impressions About Artifacts Found During Oaklawn Cemetery Excavation

Leading experts on the 1921 Mass Graves Investigation met virtually with reporters on March 2, after news outlets were not allowed to ask questions at Tuesday night's Public Oversight Committee meeting regarding the final report being released to the public.

One thing that raised concerns with the Public Oversight Committee during the meeting Tuesday was the fact that not all individuals discovered last summer were removed from the ground to be studied.

Dr. Phoebe Stubblefield said the team does not want to unnecessarily disturb burial sites when there is not a sign associated with the massacre.

"We do not need to keep digging up people's children,” she said.

She emphasized Wednesday they are looking for remains of black men in plain coffins, because of information in historical documents.

The final report released Tuesday night is more than 1,000 pages long and is thorough, providing detail on artifacts found in the dig.

Dr. Stubblefield said what surprised her was the lack of clothing she expected to find underground.

State Archeologist Dr. Kary Stackelbeck said what impressed her, is that one of the coffins was placed on top of a glass bottle fragment with a beginning manufacture date of 1921.

"That was really very impressive to me, the fact that when you have the, that coffin placed directly on top of that, really gives us a pretty good, high amount of confidence of the likely date affiliation for that particular grave,” Dr. Stackelbeck said.

Stackelbeck said she was also impressed with the fact that they recovered bullets, which Stubblefield said were from the “right time period."

The two women said there is no timeline yet for when the team will go back to Oaklawn for more excavation work. In the meantime, the city is asking people with family connections to the massacre to reach out to the DNA company analyzing samples of the remains.

The city said those who want to get involved who may have family ties to the massacre should email info@intermountainforensics.com and enter the subject line “1921 Graves.”