Bone Detective Digs His Work (3/13/2008)

NC State's Scott Fitzpatrick has been excavating a 3,000-year old burial site in the remote North Pacific island of Palau since 2000

No crime scene tape marked the gravesite of a suspected homicide victim from the North Pacific island of Palau. In fact, the only remaining evidence of the ancient warrior's murder was his 3,000-year old skull, found completely detached from his body.

A team of historians and archaeologists - including NC State's Scott Fitzpatrick - have assembled to solve this ancient murder mystery. Though it's not exactly ripped from the headlines, think CSI of the ancient past and you get the premise of the Discovery Channel show Bone Detectives, which will feature Fitzpatrick in an upcoming episode.

In the episode titled "The Floating Cemetery," viewers will travel through tropical jungles and across coral seas to the remote island nation of Palau in Micronesia, where Fitzpatrick has been excavating a 3,000-year old cemetery since 2000. The episode airs Thursday, March 13, at 7 p.m. EST on the Discovery Channel.

It's in that Palauan cemetery where Fitzpatrick, assistant professor of archaeology in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, discovered the skull, alongside nearly a dozen other ancient skeletal remains, prehistoric tools and ancient jewelry. But the skull grabbed Fitzpatrick's attention because of the context of its discovery and his knowledge of Palauan history.

"Palauan oral traditions speak of warriors who were beheaded," Fitzpatrick explains. "The head was placed on a ceremonial platform within the village. During the episode, we tried to determine whether this person was decapitated purposefully."

On the hour-long show, Fitzpatrick and other archaeologists and historians explore the mystery and evidence surrounding the warrior's death with the series' host in hope of cracking the ancient case.

"We were dealing with fragmentary remains and a lot of limited information in our data, but the fact that these beheadings are part of the Palauan historical record suggests that it's what could have happened," Fitzpatrick says.

While the case makes for intriguing television, the show spotlights the significance of Fitzpatrick's years of work in Palau, which is one of the oldest and largest burial sites in the entire North Pacific region.

"The site provides us with a demographic profile of what early Palauan society was like," Fitzpatrick says. "It provides a nice snapshot of the lifestyles and occupations of these people, possibly dating back to the first colonists that inhabited the island."

And although he's not ready to ditch his anthropological career for Hollywood, Fitzpatrick enjoyed his foray into television.

"It was really interesting to be a part of the show and see how programs like this are made," Fitzpatrick says. "Hopefully viewers will gain a better sense of the kinds of exciting research our anthropology faculty are involved with at NC State."

Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by Norht Carolina State University

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