A FULL-CIRCLE MOMENT FOR F.A.I.R. LAB

Unidentified remains find their final resting place in partnership with town of Brentwood

Professor Amy Michael, left, talks with Kylee Jedraszek ’23 in the F.A.I.R. Lab.

On a bright afternoon last fall, a wooden box containing skeletal remains was returned to its final resting place during a simple reburial ceremony in Brentwood. Researchers and students from UNH’s Forensic Anthropology Identification and Recovery (F.A.I.R.) Lab had worked for two years with town officials and the state archaeologist to investigate and document the remains, which were identified as being from a farm for paupers during the mid-1800s, commonly known as a poor farm.

“We were honored to not only provide valuable information about their lives but to also have the rare opportunity to be present at the reburial — to put these individuals at peace and offer all interested parties some sense of closure,” said Alex Garcia-Putnam, co-director of the F.A.I.R. Lab.

UNH Magazine first shared the work of UNH’s F.A.I.R. Lab in a feature story on the forensic anthropology courses taught by Professor Amy Michael (magazine.unh.edu/issue/winter-2023/searching-for-answers). It was there that readers were introduced to Ashanti Maronie ’23, one of the students working with the collection, made up of bone fragments and small metal and wooden pieces of what might have been a coffin. A homeowner had discovered them during a routine excavation in 1999.

Maronie knew he might not be able to identify the names of each of the commingled remains, but shared, “Does that mean they don’t deserve to be properly buried somewhere? It’s a matter of justice after the fact vs. prior and using forensic anthropology to correct the wrongs of the past,” he said.

Said Joyce Keegal, superintendent of cemeteries in Brentwood, “We are so thankful for the work done by UNH to not only help shed light on the lives of these individuals but to also help us advocate for them.”

The burial site is on private property in an undisclosed area of town. Plans are in place by Brentwood town officials and the historical society for a future exhibit about the Brentwood Poor Farm.