Citation

Mikellide M. J. Forensic Sci. 2014; 59(5): 1184-1190.

Affiliation

Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus (CMP) in Cyprus, PO Box 21642, Nicosia, 1590, Cyprus.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, American Society for Testing and Materials, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/1556-4029.12523

PMID

24975598

Abstract

The island of Cyprus experienced two periods of intercommunal conflict during which c. 2000 individuals went missing. The Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus began a program of exhumations in 2005, through which more than 185 burial sites pertaining to the two periods of conflict have been identified and excavated. The aim of this study was twofold: (i) to present a classification of the main types of clandestine burial and (ii) to test the hypothesis that the nature of conflict influences the mode of interment. Burials can be divided into "public burials" and "concealed burials," based on the possible motives of those involved in the interment and then subdivided into smaller categories based on similarities in archeological context. A comparison of results from the two periods of conflict reveals that there are statistical differences (p < 0.005), which indicate that the mode of interment may reflect the nature, character, and atmosphere of conflict.

Language: en