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Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports

Available online 24 September 2024, 104748
In Press, Corrected ProofWhat's this?
Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports

Identification of a senior officer from Sir John Franklin's Northwest
Passage expedition

Author links open overlay panelDouglas R. Stenton ^a, Stephen 
Fratpietro ^b, Robert W. Park ^a
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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2024.104748Get rights and content
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Highlights

  * *
    Remains of Franklin expedition sailor discovered in 1993
    identified via DNA.
  * *
    Genetic study reveals place of death of Captain James Fitzjames,
    HMS Erebus.
  * *
    Captain James Fitzjames died less than 80 km from where the ships
    were deserted.
  * *
    New insights into cannibalism on the 1845 Franklin Northwest
    Passage Expedition.

Abstract

Arctic Canada's King William Island and Adelaide Peninsula have
preserved the unidentified skeletal remains of many of the 105
sailors who perished while trying to escape the Arctic at the end of
the 1845-1848 Franklin Northwest Passage expedition. Over the past
decade, we have attempted to identify those individuals through DNA
analysis using samples obtained from living descendants. Here we
report on comparison of Y-chromosome profiles from a tooth recovered
from King William Island and a buccal sample from a donor descended
from one of the expedition's senior officers. The results reveal a
genetic distance of one, suggesting that they share a common paternal
ancestor. We conclude that DNA and genealogical evidence confirm the
identity of the remains as those of Captain James Fitzjames, HMS
Erebus.

Keywords

DNA analysis
1845 Franklin expedition
Human remains
Cannibalism
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(c) 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.

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