Ya found me!
Posted on 10/31/2012 1:20:04 PM PDT by NYer
Edited on 10/31/2012 1:22:31 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
Photo courtesy New Haven Register A skeleton was found beneath storm-toppled tree outside New Haven, Conn.
Hurricane turned Superstorm Sandy toppled a majestic old oak on the Upper Green (outside New Haven, CT) and intertwined in the dirt and roots was a human skeleton.
(Excerpt) Read more at mainlinemedianews.com ...
Hmmm... the decedent swallowed an acorn immediately prior to death and burial?
Hmmm... the decedent swallowed an acorn immediately prior to death and burial?
Yes but that is not the case in this particular situation. The entire article was posted until the Mod randomly chose to narrow it down to one line! According to the original article:
The very old bones likely are centuries old dating back to when the Green was used as a cemetery during colonial times until the Grove Street cemetery was chartered in 1797. There remain an estimated 5,000 people buried under the Green.
Essentially, in this instance, the bones are older than the 100 year old tree.
1902 hide and go seek champion.
Jimmy Hoffa or Waldo??
Someone call the Jeffersonian! Get Bones on the case.
Yes, I thought the same thing, people use to plant a seed on the grave. New life springing from death, that kind of thing.
I think most of those skeletons would be dust by now, especially since in many areas, whole tribes were wiped out, with nobody left to bury the dead.
Yup and a lot of times they would plant a little tree in the shoe of the dead person and the tree would actually have the DNA of the long lost person for the hundred+ years of its life.
I would imagine that the uprooted tree would also have the DNA of whoever it was that was buried under the tree.
I don't doubt the possible reported age of the remains.
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| GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach | |
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Thanks NYer and Graewoulf. Looks like they found the grounds of the former Miskatonic University. |
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More information - It was the site of a cemetery. The town green was built there but the bodies weren’t moved. However, the tombstones were removed... sigh, how caring and respectful - NOT! - of the town council and wonder if the tombstones were at least given back to the families (if they could be located) or dumped. The tree was planted in 1906 in honor of Lincoln. The woman was probably a victim of yellow fever. One idiot said, “this is really cool, the day before Halloween” which is probably not the feelings of the woman’s loved ones when she was burried. All in the name of progress, don’cha know.
“It was the site of a cemetery. The town green was built there but the bodies weren’t moved. However, the tombstones were removed... sigh, how caring and respectful - NOT”
WOW. That sounds like the plot from the Poltergeist movie.
Would serve the people right if they did get a good haunting.
Okay, well that settles that, then.
It is a very old custom to plant an oak or other tree above the head of the coffin, or bury next to a tree. There is even a Biblical reference to it.
Thomas Jefferson had a lifelong friend and eventual brother-in-law, and they pledged to be buried next to an oak tree when they died. His friend died while he was out of the country, and was buried elsewhere, so Jefferson ordered him dug up and replanted next to the tree. Eventually this area became the Jefferson family cemetery at Monticello, and that particular oak was removed so other relative could be buried close to Jefferson.
Plenty of other oaks around, though.
http://carolshouse.com/cemeteryrecords/monticello/
“I think most of those skeletons would be dust by now,”
Yes, the ones killed by plague and unburied would be dust. But if the Northeast had a population of several tens of millions, then, if they had been there for a while, there would be several million Native Americans buried- the ancestors of the living ones.
I would imagine that the uprooted tree would also have the DNA of whoever it was that was buried under the tree.
Ummm, plants do not pick up or replicate the DNA of dead animals or humans their roots sink into... If that were the case, we'd have all these hybrid plant/animals, plant/humans around.
DNA in dead flesh deteriorates very quickly. The only places DNA can be found in skeletons is possibly in the bone marrow--but even that goes away fairly quickly. I can guarantee that the DNA in 200+ year old bones in moist Connecticut soil is long gone. And like I said, it won't be picked up by plants or trees anyway.
Re: DNA
Obviously you never saw the apple trees on the Wizard Of Oz
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