The ODAIT Laboratory will be located in the Tuam area and will be equipped appropriately to enable ODAIT’s forensic staff to undertake multidisciplinary scientific analyses of human remains recovered from the Tuam site.
The laboratory will be composed of a number of specific areas to allow for the proper and respectful analysis and preservation of all human remains and artefacts recovered. These will include a main area for analysis and the recording of all information and an area dedicated to the respectful storage of all human remains.
The laboratory’s primary function is to receive the exhumed remains from the Site and to perform all necessary scientific analysis i.e. cataloguing, various morphological examinations, subsampling for DNA testing etc. The scientific work is carried out by a multidisciplinary team including forensic anthropologists, forensic archaelogists, osteo-archaeologists, forensic odontologists and forensic geneticists, who follow specific Standard Operating Procedures and protocols, aiming to maintain the highest level of scientific competence and ethical integrity.
By studying the human remains recovered and the excavation data, the various types of analysis aim to establish a biological profile of the individual, including, where possible, sex, age at death, and any other individual characteristics that may assist the identification process. In addition, the multidisciplinary analysis determines whether the remains are relevant to ODAIT’s mandate, and whether the remains found in a particular area of the site belong to a single individual, two persons or multiple persons. Dealing with multiple persons, we will determine the Minimum Number of Individuals (MNI) represented by the human remains recovered.
If the analysis determines that the human remains belong to more than one individual, and they are fragmented (loose or broken) and/or commingled (mixed together) due to the conditions in which they have been buried and/or recovered, ODAIT’s multidisciplinary team of forensic experts will try, to the extent possible, to isolate the remains into single individuals by combining the findings from each forensic discipline. However, this will be extremely challenging for highly commingled infant remains and it is highly likely that individualising all of the human remains recovered will not be possible. Following this, optimal samples of bone or teeth will be selected and transported to Forensic Science Ireland for DNA testing.
Update:
• ODAIT is defining the forensic data management needs of the project and putting in place a data management system and tool.
• ODAIT has consulted with international experts and other similar projects (e.g. UN Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus) dealing with the analysis and identification of skeletal remains to aid in the development of necessary procedures and protocols that best address the specific needs of this project.
• Since the summer of 2023, ODAIT and the Office of Public Works have been working together to secure, prepare and equip appropriate premises to undertake multidisciplinary scientific analyses.
