THE DONNER PARTY PROJECT

Touted as one of Discover Magazine’s “Top 100 Science Stories of 2003,” this project examines the Donner family encampments in the eastern Sierra Nevada mountains.  Stranded and snowbound in that region for over four months during the winter of 1846-47, survivors of the well-known "Donner Party" endured starvation and were surrounded by the deaths of their companions and loved ones.  Written accounts indicate that many peoples’ survival depended upon their cannibalization of the dead.  This tragic story has since become one of the most widely known events in western history, with collective memory of the event fueled by a mosaic of folklore, conjecture, and historical facts. The archaeological remains of these emigrant-era encampments hold the keys to go beyond sensational myth by unlocking details of the events that took place during that ill-fated winter in the Sierras.  The current and proposed research is building on Dr. Donald L. Hardesty's work from the late 1980s and early 1990s by revisiting these sites using advances in forensic recovery and testing techniques, such as Ground-Penetrating Radar, osteon tests on bone, genomic and mtDNA analyses on bone and/or artifacts, and nutritional stress and trauma studies on bone.  

Archaeological team directors, Drs. Julie Schablitsky and Kelly Dixon, propose to visit the Alder Creek Camp during spring of 2004. Using dog teams, trained to identify historic-period human remains, they hope to evaluate the usefulness of canine detection methods at that site.  During the month of July 2004, the archaeological team will again return to the site to continue excavating the Donner family’s campsite and revive the humanistic portion of this story.  In addition to remote sensing applications and archaeological excavations , the team will carry out artifactual and genetic analysis to address research issues such as a starvation diet; to make unequivocal identifications of cannibalism among the emigrants; to reconstruct the atmospheres of these starvation camps using spatial artifact analysis; and to determine the 1847 salvage team's activity of internment and/or cremation of  the human remains of George, Jacob, Elizabeth, Samuel, and Lewis Donner, as well as the three teamsters, Reinhard, Smith, and Shoemaker. 

This collaborative research will associate, once and for all, the archaeological remnants of an emigrant-era camp with the Donner family and will provide closure to descendants who have endured the brunt of sensational myth that continues to hover around this tragedy.  Additionally, the recent testing phases of this project captured a large audience (local, regional, national, and international), inspiring us to develop a research program dedicated to public outreach and education.  As a result, our investigative goal is dedicated to using archaeological investigations as means to an educational end, namely to demonstrate how science and history can be synthesized to overcome the power of myth and memory. 

        DONNER  PARTY SCIENCE TEAM    

The Donner Party Science Team is composed of a group of scholars from across the western United States.  Each one of the team members brings a unique specialty to the project that is critical for solving the Donner Party mystery.

DRS. JULIE SCHABLITSKY AND KELLY DIXON

Principal Investigating Archaeologists/Site Directors

Julie Schablitsky is a  Research Associate at the Museum of Natural History, University of Oregon and also works as a Regional Archaeologist for the Oregon Department of Transportation.  Dr. Schablitsky's research focus on the Donner Party includes spatial reconstruction of the campsite.  She is also interested in the potential of recovering mtDNA from bone and personal artifacts and matching it with living Donner descendents.

Kelly Dixon is an Assistant Professor at the University of Montana where she teaches classes on Historic Archaeology, Landscape Archaeology, and Historic Architecture.  Dr. Dixon's research focus on the Alder Creek Camp includes the attempt to recreate sensory perception of the past using artifacts and site structure.  She is also interested in the potential of DNA recovery from organic remains and inanimate objects from the Donner Party camp site.