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On a bright autumn afternoon, a plain wooden box crafted by a local cabinet shop containing skeletal remains was returned to its final resting place during a simple reburial ceremony in Brentwood. Researchers and students from the University of New Hampshire's Forensic Anthropology Identification and Recovery (F.A.I.R.) Lab worked for two years with town officials and the New Hampshire state archaeologist to investigate and document the remains, which were uncovered more than 20 years ago during construction and were identified as being from a farm for paupers during the mid-1800's, commonly known as a poor farm.

"We analyzed the skeletal remains to determine their age and condition and help solve the mystery of why they were buried in the remote area in an unmarked grave," said Alex Garcia-Putnam, co-director of UNH's F.A.I.R. Lab. "After several years of documenting the skeletal remains, we were honored to not only provide valuable information about their lives but to also have the rare opportunity to be present at the reburial—to put these individuals at peace and offer all interested parties some sense of closure."

The remains of the farm workers were mistakenly uncovered during excavation on private property in 1999. The New Hampshire state archaeologist was called to the site and determined that the remains were historic due to their age and condition and they were transferred to the New Hampshire medical examiner's office for storage, where they remained for 23 years. In 2022, the remains were transferred to UNH where researchers went to work on skeletal analysis.

UNH's F.A.I.R. Lab works with law enforcement and the state's medical examiner's office to help identify remains. In this case, the work was more historical in nature and the team evaluated the bones to date them and determine the health of the individuals, as well as sift through town records and maps to learn more about the historical significance of the area where the remains were found.

According to their research, which is chronicled in a paper in the journal American Antiquity, the remains showed signs of hardship, such as poverty and hard labor and left signs of several health issues like osteoarthritis, dental disease and other signs of physiological stress. The remains were originally found in a grave without any markers—another indication of poverty—on land that was thought to formerly be the Brentwood Poor Farm from 1841 to 1868.

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