Archaeology Magazine - November/December 1999 - 62

strips bearing case numbers, then holds up a
white card with an identification number as a
police photographer records the crime scene.
The remains and clothing are then placed in
numbered plastic bags. As lengthening afternoon shadows crisscross the gaping pit, Eva
declares it clean and climbs out.
At the end of the day, Eva smells of death.
With no water at hand she searches for a
stream or pond in which to rinse off her boots.
We spot a tethered cow in the distance and
venture over a knoll to find a swampy puddle. It
serves the purpose.
At a morgue south of Sarajevo, remains are
laid out on tables to determine identity, if possi- 3*
ble, and cause of death. Clothing, washed and ¡I
retagged, awaits identification by relatives. It is 2,
often the only way; medical and dental records 3Í
are, for the most part, nonexistent, and few
IsmetAlagi, a morgue worker,rests beside remains of concentration-camp
victims awaiting examination. One bag contains those of his executed father.
people can afford DNA testing.
When I ask what she thinks about when
Its the weekend in Sarajevo. No exhumations are schedexamining remains, she says she just concentrates on the
work at hand: being objective, studying the bones carefully
uled and Eva is able to relax. We indulge in a Saturday
afternoon stroll. Now the European sophisticate, she saunto find out which one goes where. "If I allowed myself to
have personal feelings about the bodies I'm working on,"
ters along in little black sandals, heels clicking against the
she says, "I would never be able to do my job correctly.
sun-dappled, cobblestone streets. We stop at sites, marked
in rose-colored paint, where people were killed by snipers,
When the remains are commingled and in such bad shape
we sometimes have to cut and mutilate them to find idenartillery, and mortar attacks during the 1,39 5-day siege of
the city in the mid-1990s. We relax at a cafe in the shade of
tity, we sometimes joke that what we are doing is worse
than when they were killed, because then they were just
Sarajevos Sacred Heart Cathedral, its damaged stainedshot. We are mutilating them in an enormous way, and I am
glass windows still unrepaired.
The last night before I leave, we share two glasses of
sorry."
By weeks end, Evas team has recovered 70 bodies, 13
Dinga, a Croatian zinfandel. The "happy little gravedigger,"
from the pit and 57 from an adjoining "Serb" cemetery
as she calls herself, muses about her life. She says she
which had been marked with Serbian orthodox crosses but
doesn't see herself doing anything else. "This is my gift; it's
what I do best." When I ask about working elsewhere, she
actually contained Bosnian Muslims, mostly multiple burials. One body had a rope around its neck, a clear sign the
shakes her head, saying "I can't go anywhere else. They
need me here." But in the aftermath of the NATO bombperson was hanged, says Eva. She has also determined that
some of the victims were women. Based on clothing and
ing, she did go to Kosovo, where thousands of ethnic Albanians are unaccounted for, according to a U.S. State
documentary evidence, Eva surmises that all were civilians.
Department estimate. There, she spent two weeks serving
some former
colleagues
at
as an advisor to officials trying to establish a commission
similar to that in Bosnia.
Physicians for Human Rights and the International Crime Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia
"People should realize that what happened in Bosnia is
question Eva s decision to concentrate her work
happening elsewhere [in the former Yugoslavia]," she says.
will be more
Although in Bosnia, all admire her dedication. William
"People are vanishing without a trace. There
"
mass graves to dig up. Where will it end?
Haglund, director of the International Forensic Program for
Physicians for Human Rights, who hired her in 1996, says
he "cant deny the good she's been doing in Bosnia," but
Brenda Smiley, writer and journalist , has published articles
would like to see her branch out into other countries. As a
on Middle Eastern history and archaeology and covered the
human-rights archaeologist, Haglund himself travels widely
Iraq-Iran war as a radio reporter. She also has written on
to investigate war crimes and collect evidence, and is a freDNA privacy issues and is writing a book , Diary of a
quent witness at UN tribunals.
Gravedigger, about Eva Kloncrwski.
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Archaeology,

November/December

Archaeology Magazine - November/December 1999

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