Danielle Kurin, PhD, is a former University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) assistant professor and later tenured associate professor and anthropologist who ran the UCSB Philip Walker Bioarchaeology and Forensic Bone Lab, and instructed on cultures of the central Andes. In 2020, Danielle Kurin took on a community assignment stemming from the 2018 Montecito mudslide, which destroyed more than 400 homes, injuring 150 people and killing 23.
Among those who perished were Santa Barbara High School student Jack Cantin and his father. Along with Lydia Sutthithepa, a two-year-old, Jack’s remains were not found, so in 2020, his mother reached out to the Bioarchaeology Lab for help. Professor Kurin and her research assistants set up a work site that resembled an archaeological dig, with “hot zones” identified within a search site spanning 110 acres. The team implemented surveys, test-pitting, and excavation. In addition to applying the insights of hydrologists and soil scientists, they relied on canines trained in human bone and tissue detection to make progress. Each fragment, from a piece of cloth to a kitchen tile, was carefully collected and mapped, with techniques such as fluorine absorption analysis, fluorescence, and bone biogeochemistry applied. Ultimately, remains were found consistent with Jack Cantin in terms of stature, age, sex, and antiquity, and these were returned to his mother. Unfortunately, the remains of the toddler Lydia were never found and they have been deemed unrecoverable and “one with the earth.”
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AuthorDanielle Kurin - Award-Winning Educator and Researcher. Archives
June 2023
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