Kari Bruwelheide facts for kids

Kari Bruwelheide (born March 16, 1967) is an American archaeologist and anthropologist. She is famous for her work as a physical anthropologist, bioarchaeologist, and forensic anthropologist. She works at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History.

Since joining the Smithsonian in 1992, she has helped identify human remains. She also helps figure out how people died in important forensic cases. These cases include studying old burials in St. Mary's City, Maryland. She also examined remains from the Jamestown Colony. She even helped identify American Civil War soldiers from the H. L. Hunley submarine.

Kari Bruwelheide is a co-curator of the exhibit Written in Bone: Forensic Files of the 17th-Century Chesapeake. In 2010, she and her team won the Smithsonian Secretary's Distinguished Research Prize. This award recognized the success of the Written In Bone exhibit. It was open from February 2009 to January 2014.

Kari Bruwelheide's Early Life and Education

Karin Lynn "Kari" Sandness Bruwelheide was born on March 16, 1967. She was born in Lincoln County, Minnesota. She grew up in Saint Paul.

Kari graduated from Como Park Senior High School in 1985. She went to Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. In 1989, she earned a Bachelor's degree. She studied both English and Anthropology. In 1992, she earned a Master of Arts degree in Physical Anthropology. This was from the University of Nebraska's College of Arts and Sciences.

She is married to Kurt Bruwelheide. They have two children together.

Kari Bruwelheide's Work as a Scientist

In 1992, after finishing her master's degree, Kari Bruwelheide joined the Smithsonian. She works at the National Museum of Natural History. Her job involves examining human remains from modern and historical times. This includes studying skeletons of American colonists from the 1600s and 1700s. She also looks at Civil War military remains.

She often helps Doug Owsley with important forensic cases. Her current research focuses on human skeletons found in the Chesapeake region. This area includes parts of Virginia and Maryland from the early colonial period.

Discovering 17th-Century Lead Coffins

In 1990, three lead coffins were found in St. Mary's City, Maryland. They were discovered near the old 17th-century Brick Chapel Catholic Church. Doug Owsley was asked to help identify the people inside.

People thought the bodies might be Phillip Calvert, a former Governor of Maryland, his wife, and their baby. After careful study, Kari Bruwelheide and her team confirmed one body was Anne Wolseley Calvert. She was a very important woman in St. Mary's City. Her home was the largest colonial mansion in English America in 1678.

Her teeth showed she ate a lot of sugar. Sugar was very expensive back then. This meant she was wealthy. The sugar also caused a lot of damage to her teeth.

In 1992, Owsley studied Anne Calvert's remains. He found she had a broken thighbone that made her leg shorter. She likely had pain from an infection in the bone.

Identifying the man in the lead coffin was harder. Being buried in a lead coffin showed he was important in the Roman Catholic Church. He was in his early 50s when he died. He was right-handed and about five and a half feet tall. His muscles suggested he did not do farm work. There was no pollen in the coffin, meaning he died in winter.

These clues, along with his wealth and religion, helped identify him. Historians and Owsley determined the man was Philip Calvert. He was the youngest son of George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore.

Helping Identify Victims from the Waco Event

Mount Carmel Center in flames during the Waco assault on April 19, 1993

In 1993, an event happened near Waco, Texas. After a long standoff, a fire broke out at a compound. Many people were trapped inside. Only a few managed to escape safely.

A week later, Doug Owsley was asked to help identify the victims. The remains were badly burned. Many bodies were also broken into pieces. It was hard for the forensic team to work because of the heat and collapsed building.

Texas Rangers and FBI agents collected the remains. They sent them to a medical examiner's office. The medical examiner realized the remains were mixed up. They needed to be put back together. Owsley arrived to help on April 27.

Most bodies could not be identified by fingerprints or X-rays. Owsley and his team had to sort through body parts. They tried to reconstruct the remains. They needed to find out the age, sex, and height of each person. They also needed to determine how they died. This main task was finished by May 3, 1993.

The victims, including children, died from various causes. Some were affected by the fire and smoke. Others died from injuries. The team identified 41 people by comparing their remains to medical records. By October 1994, 82 people were identified. In some cases, they had to match different body parts to the same person. Only four bodies were complete enough for a standard medical examination.

It took days to identify the leader, David Koresh. Forensic evidence showed he died from a gunshot wound, not the fire. In total, 88 people died in the event.

Uncovering Secrets at Jamestown Colony

In 1994, Preservation Virginia hired William Kelso. He was to lead archaeological digs at Historic Jamestowne. The goal was to find remains of the first settlement from 1607.

In 1996, the team found the original 1607 settlement. This was a surprise to historians. Many thought the site had been lost to erosion. But the digs showed only one corner of the fort was destroyed. A sea wall built in 1900 helped save the rest.

When the fort was found, Kelso invited Owsley to help. Owsley assisted in excavating and identifying skeletons. He worked with David Riggs to study the health of 17th-century colonists. They also had to separate English colonists from Native Americans. This was important because of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA).

Owsley studied skeletons found in the 1940s and 1955. Some had been kept in the museum for decades. In the 1950s, five skeletons were thought to be Native American. But new forensic analysis showed they were African. Historical records confirmed that the first Africans arrived in 1619. Owsley's research showed the earliest known Africans in British North American colonies.

The Mystery of the H. L. Hunley Submarine

H. L. Hunley, suspended from a crane during its recovery from Charleston Harbor, August 8, 2000

On February 17, 1864, the H. L. Hunley submarine sank the USS Housatonic. This was the first time a combat submarine sank an enemy warship. But the Hunley itself never returned to port. Its fate was a mystery for over 130 years.

In 1995, the wreck of the H. L. Hunley was found. Eight crew members' skeletons were also inside. Diver Ralph Wilbanks discovered it. Five years later, in 2000, the submarine was brought up from Charleston Harbor. It was moved to the Warren Lasch Conservation Center. There, it was placed in a large tank of water. This helped clean and preserve it. Owsley and Richard Jantz led the forensic investigation.

The anthropology team planned their work in four steps. First, they used laser scanning to find the safest way to access the submarine. Second, they examined a hole in the side to start digging. Third, they removed iron plates from the hull. This allowed them to begin the fourth step. In the fourth step, they used small tools to sift through sediment. They looked for artifacts and remains.

On March 20, 2001, the first human remains were found. Owsley confirmed they were three ribs from a man. He imagined the men at their stations as the submarine filled with water. The bones had crumbled but were preserved in the clay-like sediment. Owsley began carefully excavating the remains of the soldiers.

On January 25, 2002, the focus changed to studying the remains. Once all bones were out, Owsley and Jantz reconstructed them. They gathered forensic data and historical information for each crewmember. The soldiers' skulls were well preserved. This allowed Owsley to reconstruct their faces. The main goal was to identify each crew member for a proper burial.

Forensic analysis showed four men were American. The others were from Europe. This was determined by chemical marks on their teeth and bones. These marks showed what they ate. The Americans ate a lot of maize (corn). The Europeans mainly ate grains like wheat and rye. By comparing DNA with possible relatives, four Americans were identified. These included Lt. Dixon, Frank G. Collins, Joseph Ridgaway, and James A. Wicks.

On April 17, 2004, the Hunley crew was buried. This was 140 years after they died. Thousands of people attended the funeral procession. This included many Civil War reenactors. Even though only two crew members were from the Confederate States, all were buried with full Confederate honors.

Exhibits Featuring Kari Bruwelheide's Work

Kari Bruwelheide's main research is on human skeletons from the 17th-century Chesapeake region. The results of this research were shown to the public in an exhibit. It was at the Smithsonian's Museum of Natural History. The exhibit was called "Written in Bone: Forensic Files of the 17th-Century Chesapeake". Dr. Owsley and Kari Bruwelheide were the co-curators. The exhibit was open from February 7, 2009, to January 6, 2014.

Awards and Recognition

The Secretary's Research Prize is given to Smithsonian employees. It honors excellent work in publications, exhibits, or other research. Ten of these prizes are awarded each year.