Bound and beheaded: Chemmani excavation passes 100 days and 500 remains

A headless human skeleton with both hands bound and held against its chest has been uncovered at the Chemmani-Siththupathi mass grave in Jaffna, as excavations at the site passed their 101st day and the number of sets of human remains identified rose beyond 500.

The remains were found during Saturdays excavation. The skeleton appeared to have been laid in a relatively normal resting position, but the neck had been severed and the skull was absent, while both hands were found bound and positioned against the chest.

Headless remains have been recovered at Chemmani before. The latest discovery is notable for the position of the skeleton, with the bound hands held against the chest rather than the more irregular positions in which some previously identified headless remains were found.

Saturday marked the 47th day of the third phase of excavations, during which eight new sets of human remains were found and five previously identified sets fully exhumed. A total of 515 sets have now been identified across 101 days of excavation, of which 506 have been fully exhumed.

Human remains were also identified in one of two randomly excavated test pits at the site, part of the trial excavations intended to establish whether burials extend beyond the area already under investigation.

One hundred days

The discovery came a day after the excavation reached a grim milestone, passing 100 days of work with more than 500 sets of remains recovered.

On Friday, the 46th day of the third phase, for which the court has authorised 56 days in total, investigators found eight new sets of remains and exhumed seven previously identified, alongside a new cluster, bringing the totals at that point to 507 identified and 501 fully exhumed. Two bangles belonging to a young girl and a needle were recovered as evidence. Two randomly positioned test trenches were also dug, with one set of skeletal remains found in one of them.

What 100 days have uncovered

The excavation has recovered the remains of children, infants and adults, found in a range of positions and arrangements: clustered together, placed one on top of another, and lying close beside one another. In one instance a larger set of remains was found embracing or positioned around a smaller set. Others were found without any apparent regular arrangement, and some in a seated position.

Remains have also been uncovered in which the head and body were found separately, with some sets described as having been separated at the neck. A childs remains were found with a raincoat, a burial for which subsequent inquiries established that neither hospital authorities nor the local cemetery committee held any record.

Around 150 items have been recovered as evidence over the 100 days, among them a childs milk-feeding bottle, a school bag, bangles, footwear, socks, a ring, a talisman and coins. All recovered human remains and evidentiary items have been placed under court custody.

Chemmani is the largest mass grave uncovered on the island, having surpassed the Mannar Sathosa site. Despite the scale of the findings, the process of identifying the dead has still not begun, and at a hearing last month Sri Lankas Criminal Investigation Department told the Jaffna Magistrates Court that it had not yet been established whether a crime had taken place at the site.

The site was first linked to enforced disappearances in 1998, when the Sri Lankan soldier Somaratne Rajapakse testified that between 300 and 400 Tamils who had disappeared in the custody of the security forces were buried in the Chemmani area, a figure the current excavation has now passed. A decision on whether work will continue beyond the currently authorised period is expected around 19 August, with the parties due before the court again on 14 October.