A Controlled Experiment to Test the Efficacy of Ground-Penetrating Radar in the Search for Clandestine Burials in Poland

Abstract

The international workshop ‘Forensic Search and Recovery of Clandestine Graves’ took place over two days in 2021 in Wroclaw, Poland. The goal of the workshop was to improve search methods and techniques related to the examination of clandestine burial sites. Geophysical methods were used by an international team of multi-disciplinary specialists to detect simulated burial sites. The training focused on testing methods, including Ground-Penetrating Radar (GPR), to verify the effectiveness of the methods in the search for two features representing clandestine burials. The forensic community in Central European countries, including Poland, has been slow to adopt these technologies due to controversial results. While geophysical research is successfully carried out in archaeological research and forensic contexts internationally, its application in the activities of the prosecutor’s office and the police in Poland has been relatively unsuccessful. This has resulted in several controversies related primarily to the erroneous expectations of how the methods are successfully applied. This may be the result of operator inexperience in applying these methods to the search for clandestine burials. This training paired an experienced GPR operator with law enforcement teams and archaeologists, leading to the successful discovery of simulated burials using GPR.