Researcher: Donner
cannibalism still unproven

The Donner Party used tea cups and other tableware and ate domestic and wild animals while stranded in the Sierra Nevadas during 1846-47, but all group members may not have resorted to cannibalism.

Results of recent analyses of bone fragments found at the Donner Family campsite in California’s Tahoe National Forest are inconclusive with regard to cannibalism, according to research presented last month by scientists at the Society for Historical Archaeology’s conference on historical and underwater archaeology.

Kelly Dixon, assistant professor of anthropology at UM, and Julie Schablitsky, adjunct assistant professor at the University of Oregon, lead a team that has investigated the Donner tragedy during the past three years.

In 2003 and 2004 the team found a cooking hearth and an associated shelter at the site, located at the Alder Creek Camp in the forest’s Truckee Ranger District, along with thousands of pieces of burned bone. They also found wagon parts, writing slate, musket balls, pieces of tea cups and plates, bottle shards, and lost jewelry. The archaeological findings revealed the size and location of the cooking shelter and activity areas within the camp.

Mitochondrial DNA testing was done on the bone fragments to determine if they were human in the hope of establishing links to Donner descendants. However, the genetic material was too degraded to amplify and as such, no DNA could be lifted from the bone.

In the course of testing, partner scientists examined the bone fragments to determine particular animal species. They visually examined the bone and conducted osteon analysis on the samples, which entails taking thin slices of bone. They found the Donners lived off of their livestock and wild game. However, no human bone was identified in the collection they tested.

Researchers also looked for trauma and “pot polish” on the bone fragments. The presence of pot polish indicates that bones have been boiled in water and is an indicator of starvation. They discovered that many bone fragments were sawed, chopped and cut, as well as polished, suggesting extreme desperation and starvation among the group.

At this point in the team’s research, it can be said that residents of the camp consumed domestic and wild animals, including the family dog. However, no clear evidence of cannibalism has emerged from the Alder Creek camp site.

Schablitsky and Dixon have concluded that if cannibalism occurred at the Donner camp, it took place during the last few weeks of their entrapment by fewer than 12 individuals, and that the bodies were not processed to the bone.

“The tale of the Donner Party has focused on the tragedy of survival cannibalism, yet the archaeological remains inspire us to consider more significant implications, such as what it was like to be human, doing whatever possible to survive in one of the snowbound camps,” Dixon said. “This research will revise the popular, sensational accounts that have captured the public’s attention for nearly 160 years and remind us of our survival capabilities in the face of unfamiliar environments or unexpected circumstances.”