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Forensic anthropologist outlines lab work on remains from Tulsa Race Massacre excavations
Summary
Phoebe Stubblefield, lead forensic anthropologist for the CA Pound Human Identification Lab, described radiography, inventory, and storage processes used to examine remains exhumed from Oak Lawn and explained how artifacts and skeletal evidence are recorded and preserved.
Phoebe Stubblefield, lead forensic anthropologist for the CA Pound Human Identification Lab at the University of Florida, gave a detailed tour of the lab processes being used in the Tulsa Race Massacre investigation.
Stubblefield described radiography work: remains are placed on tables, selected portions are x-rayed using a computed radiography (CR) plate system to look for features such as metallic scatter from bullets or funerary artifacts. She said radiography reduces time spent sifting soil for casket- or burial-related artifacts and helps target areas for closer examination.
She explained that each burial recovered from the Oak Lawn excavation is given its own tray and processing table to avoid mixing remains. Analysts inventory skeletal elements, repair and reassemble damaged bones when necessary, and record biological indicators such as age or healed injuries. The lab also maintains an artifacts room and a microscopy station for specimen photography and analysis. Stubblefield described a storage system designed to hold trays until remains are ready for pre-reinterment transfer back to the cemetery.
Stubblefield directed viewers to the city’s 1921graves website for additional documents, photos and reports related to the investigation and said the lab’s work is part of ongoing documentation and analysis in the multi-year investigation.
