"27th.--Still in camp; no fire; Patrick Dolin died.""On the twenty-seventh they took the flesh from the bodies of the dead; and on that, and the two following days they remained in camp drying the meat, and preparing to pursue their journey."
"29th.--Nor food for five days; a portion of the company eat human flesh. "
Now, however, a biological anthropologist at Appalachian State University, and her team produced thin sections from the hearth bones and examined them under high magnification in order to measure each basic structural unit and link the bones to particular animals.
"What we have demonstrated is that there is no evidence for cannibalism," said Robbins. "If the Donner Party did resort to cannibalism, the bones were treated in a different way (such as buried), or they were placed on the hearth last and could have since eroded."
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The pre-historic eras most dangerous and cannibalistic creatures.@Socyberty
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2 Comments:
At the camp of the DONNER FAMILY on or near Alder Creek, several miles NE of Truckee Lake, the archaeologists found no evidence of cannibalism, but, as they state in their report, most of the pieces of bone they found were so small it was difficult to determine if the pieces are human or not, AND that they are not at all 100% certain that they found one of the campsites of the Donner Family.
The George Donners, the Jacob Donners, and the hired-men with them, hastily erected two or three separate tent-like structures as the snow started to fall.
The archaeological dig did NOT negate the diary entries and later reports that state that cannibalism occurred at the camp SW of Alder Creek at Truckee Lake or on the trek of members of the so-called "Forlorn Hope" to which this quote refers: "27th.--Still in camp; no fire; Patrick Dolin [sic] died." "On the twenty-seventh they took the flesh from the bodies of the dead; and on that, and the two following days they remained in camp drying the meat, and preparing to pursue their journey". Or by the members of the Donner Party who were rescued by the Third Relief Party, yet were left behind on the trail to Sutter's Fort long enough to resort to eating the dead.
Cannibalism by certain members of the Donner Party (which includes many people who did not have the surname Donner) is well-established, the confusion stems from people not well-versed in the history of this tragedy who jump on "Donner Party" and don't investigate further to understand the true scope and results of the archaeological dig.
Elisabeth Carroll
Donner Scholar
Salt Lake City, Utah
They did resort to eating human flesh, but did not kill, with these intentions.
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