Recovering identities, preserving memories

As young researchers reconstruct lives lost to war, scientific fieldwork is also reshaping their own understanding of history and peace.

When Mu Xingyu began working with the remains of martyrs who lost their lives in battle more than seven decades ago, one fact struck her deeply: many had died as teenagers, younger than she is now.

For Mu, 23, a second-year graduate student at Fudan University's Department of Cultural Heritage and Museology, personally encountering the remains was different from learning about martyrs at school.

"The remains show numerous war injuries: fractures, bullet holes and even shrapnel embedded in the bones. Seeing that evidence in front of me made the brutality of war feel real," she said.

Mu was among more than 20 young people who joined Fudan University's molecular archaeology laboratory in fieldwork from July to September at sites including Fengtai county in Anhui province, Huozhou city in Shanxi province and Chengmai county in Hainan province.

Their work involved finding, excavating and studying the remains of unknown martyrs — using archaeology and scientific techniques to reconstruct their lives and, when possible, restore their identities.

The work begins before any remains are unearthed. Wen Shaoqing, an associate professor and molecular archaeologist who leads the laboratory, said the field survey team first locates graves for excavation. Once human bones are uncovered, physical anthropologists take over.

According to him, on-site physical anthropological analysis can determine or estimate gender and age at death and document pathological conditions and morphological characteristics through hundreds of observation indicators. Measurements can also be used to estimate a person's height and weight. Researchers then collect samples for DNA and isotope testing.

"Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis can tell us about a martyr's diet and nutritional status, while strontium isotope analysis can offer clues to geographic origin and mobility. DNA testing, meanwhile, can help confirm identity," Wen explained.

Researchers also scan complete skulls to prepare for facial reconstruction.

But restoring a name is far more difficult. Unless personal artifacts contain identifying information, researchers need DNA comparisons combined with family information to confirm an identity.

The scale of that difficulty is reflected in the laboratory's results. It began using technological archaeological methods to help unidentified martyrs reclaim their names in 2015. Since then, the team has tested samples from more than 1,600 unknown martyr remains, but has successfully identified only about 20.

"The martyrs died long ago, and their immediate family members from older generations have long since passed away," Wen said. "Many of the martyrs were very young when they died, with a large proportion still in their teens. If they left no descendants, there may be no family members actively searching for them today."

Even when DNA points researchers toward a family, identifying the individual can still prove difficult.

"The relatives we find may be several generations removed and may not even know that the martyr existed. That makes putting a name to the remains much harder," Wen said.

But when a name cannot be recovered, the remains can still reveal parts of a person's life and the conditions under which they fought and died.