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Little Bighorn Battlefield Dig 1988-89


noworky
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Here are a couple pictures I found from one of the many stops my wife and I have made to the Little Bighorn Battlefield site near Crow Agency Montana. I think these are from either 1988 or 89 there was an archeological dig going on and one of the archeologist came over to me with my 35mm camera hanging around my neck and asked me if I would to have him take a couple pictures of what they uncovered naturally I said you bet! I was told it was a severed Cavalry troopers hand and this was near the point where most of the troopers fell.

 

LittleBighornDig.jpg

LittleBighornFind.jpg

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I, for one, would like to see more pictures. It is not everyday we get to see the artifacts in the battlefield as they are uncovered, unless it is Nat. Go.

This is much more "real" to me!!

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I, for one, would like to see more pictures. It is not everyday we get to see the artifacts in the battlefield as they are uncovered, unless it is Nat. Go.

This is much more "real" to me!!

 

I wished there were more but he only took about four pictures of the skelital remains and this was the best; I thought it was something for him to offer to take the pictures and totally forgot about them until I found them yesterday.

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I, for one, would like to see more pictures. It is not everyday we get to see the artifacts in the battlefield as they are uncovered, unless it is Nat. Go.

This is much more "real" to me!!

 

 

Yes...more photos please!!!

 

This is awesome. We road-tripped from Washington (state) to Indiana and back last summer and visited there along the way. Overwhelming site to visit.

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Leatherneck72

I know people involved with this dig, and the stories are amazing regarding the things they found as well as ID'd items.

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Amazing Photo's there and Very Interesting Topic for sure ! Thanks for sharing these photos with us great stuff :thumbsup:

Sure would have loved to have seen more of these photos but unfortunatly there not available its a real pity.

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bootsandbooks

I have a book about the archealogical survey that is very detailed with the techniques, maps, charts and numerous photos of the artifacts located.

 

The project disproved a lot of myths about the site and resolved some questions from earlier movements and reburial of bodies. An analysis of bullets, fragements, and weapons parts shed new light on the armaments and ammunition used by both sides.

 

Its at home and I'm not right now but will scan what I can later and provide the citation for those who may want a copy.

 

As best I recall the survey was undertaken after a major grass fire presented an opportunity to search the entire area with metal detectors. One amazing find was part of a wrist bone laying on top of the ground which was found becsue of a ring still on one finger. If memory serves they were able to identify the trooper and place the wrist bone with the rest of his remains.

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I remember reading about that survey. It was pretty sophisticated.

 

Basically using modern forensic methods they could match spent shell casings to specific weapons. They then mapped where that weapon was fired on the battlefield, which in turn mapped the movements not only of the individual soldier or brave, but also gave a picture of the unit movements.

 

The result was that the units became splintered, and as the battle wore on, the troopers numbers diminished.

 

Fascinating and eerie at the same time.

 

Combining this with reading such books as "Son of the Morning Star" just left me wondering what the heck Custer was thinking when he launched his attack.

I realize that is not an original insight, but I was pretty shocked when I finally put it all together.

 

Getting back to the survey... it is a wonder that the battlefield was relatively undisturbed. There were probably generations of souvenir hunters who went out there.

At the Iowa State Historical Society museum, there was a small display of shell casings attributed to the battlefield. These were collected decades ago. I am sure who ever brought them back was quite proud of them, but doing so they were removed from the historical record and site survey that later followed.

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I have a book about the archealogical survey that is very detailed with the techniques, maps, charts and numerous photos of the artifacts located.

 

The project disproved a lot of myths about the site and resolved some questions from earlier movements and reburial of bodies. An analysis of bullets, fragements, and weapons parts shed new light on the armaments and ammunition used by both sides.

 

Its at home and I'm not right now but will scan what I can later and provide the citation for those who may want a copy.

 

As best I recall the survey was undertaken after a major grass fire presented an opportunity to search the entire area with metal detectors. One amazing find was part of a wrist bone laying on top of the ground which was found becsue of a ring still on one finger. If memory serves they were able to identify the trooper and place the wrist bone with the rest of his remains.

 

The picture that was taken for me is of that wrist and hand skelital remains found with the ring.

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The National Parks archeologists from the Lincoln, NE office were in charge of the dig and they had the Nebraska State Patrol Crime Lab do the forensic work.

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The dig in the 80s was done after a range fire burnt everything which made it easier to detect and recover.

 

One of the participants was Dr. Doug Scott, of the Lincoln Office. He is a member of our Central Plains Chapter of the Company of Military Historians. At one of our meetings several years ago, Doug gave a presentation about the dig. Very interesting.

Retired

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Figure 14 of Scott and Fox's book(Archaeological Perspectives on the Battle of Little Bighorn) shows the hand but with a placement marker in front of it.....the book's picture is B/W so it is nice to see it in color. The book also notes it is from Marker 78 (last stand hill area) ...which they found a number of bone and skull fragments from the Trooper that died there, to include a gunshot wound to the arm and blunt force trauma to the skull fragments. Thank you for sharing!

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One of the participants was Dr. Doug Scott, of the Lincoln Office. He is a member of our Central Plains Chapter of the Company of Military Historians. At one of our meetings several years ago, Doug gave a presentation about the dig. Very interesting.

Retired

 

I know Doug well and he was at the Hastings Military show this week end.Always intresting to talk with him.

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Figure 14 of Scott and Fox's book(Archaeological Perspectives on the Battle of Little Bighorn) shows the hand but with a placement marker in front of it.....the book's picture is B/W so it is nice to see it in color. The book also notes it is from Marker 78 (last stand hill area) ...which they found a number of bone and skull fragments from the Trooper that died there, to include a gunshot wound to the arm and blunt force trauma to the skull fragments. Thank you for sharing!

I've went through this book a couple of times over the last two decades and it has some fascinating details and observations on the Battle of the Little Big Horn. I would urge anyone who has an interest in this battle to borrow a copy from their local library service.

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I'd also recommend They Died with Custer: Soldiers' Bones from the Battle of the Little Bighorn. It's got a bunch of really interesting forensic stuff on the skeletal remains.

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Dr. Doug Scott is actually giving a presentation to two of my classes today about this very topic.

 

If I could hop across the Atlantic, Africa and Europe I would in a heartbeat to be a student in your class today! I wrote a paper on the battle of Little Big Horn for a class a few years back, definately the topic that was the wake up for me to change majors from history to battlefield archaeology! In addition to learning more about the dig I could talk patch shop with you; ideal vacation in my opinion.

 

Drew

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Hi All,

Great pics. I too have read and re-read the Scott & Fox book. Fantastic! I have been interested in the battle forever. Most likely started when I saw the movie, "They Died with Their Boots On" when I was a child. I wish there was more pics too.

Terry

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If anyone has the chance to visit the battlefield I highly recommend it.A friend and I took a motorcycle trip to Montana and rode through the area.You can not imagine the overall area covered by the battle by reading the book(s).Given the terrain you can really see how hopeless it was to try and defend the position(s)the 7th cavalry had to defend and the factors of the weather and lack of water sources would contibute to the battle.

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pony soldier

To all Custer fans:

 

Reference the interesting posting by noworky I have found the Custer story a great love for over 50 years . I first discovered it in 1950 with a historical novel by Will Henry, called "No Survivors". Since that time I have acquired some 900 books on the Custer fight. One of the first to try to reconstruct the fight by analysis was a fine book by Dr. Charles Kuhlman in 1950 also titled "Legend into History". A truly great piece of work that went a long ways to unraveling what went on. Kuhlman was also the one who first proposed the so-called "South Skirmish Line" which was loudly protested by many including the National Park Service.

 

I was there in 1961 and had a discussion with the superintendent. This was also another of those cycles when it was popular to tear down the Custer image. Evidence the big dustup when we rolled over to political correctness and renamed the Custer Battlefield, the Little Bighorn Battlefield. It is noteworthy that the superintendent stated in no uncertain terms, the Kuhlman book would not be sold at the battlefield store. It took the fire in 1983 and the later digs to verify that Kuhlman was right. There still is the issue of the "28" bodies that were buried in the "Deep Ravine" which not as yet found by the digs and later work. Kuhlman is now on sale.

 

To finish this up I believe the most interesting and insightfull book I have read on the battle was done in 2004 by Bruce Liddic through Upton and Sons titled "Vanishing Victory". While this book is not for the novice Custer reader it is an indepth study that required very careful reading and rereading to come to grips with it. One should be very familar with the history involved and in particular the ground it was fought on. It is a total coverage of the entire event. I consider it the best yet I have read that deals with reconstructing minute by minute the events that took place for the last 24 hours Custer had to live.

 

Understand I am not pro or con Custer, just interested in finding out what combination of events and people that came together to make this fight stand the test of time---centuries. I could be just as absorbed in the Alamo.

There is no room for bias in dealing with history. Unfortunately not true all the time.

 

Pony Soldier

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Dr. Scott did let me keep a copy of his power point he presented to my students. Not sure if I can attach it to an email or not, but if anyone wants me to try and send it, drop me a p.m.

 

Mark

36-tex

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