SACRAMENTO — Nudging the history books, archeologists studying one of two campsites used by the ill-fated Donner Party during a snowbound Sierra winter 160 years ago announced Thursday that a study had unearthed no physical evidence of cannibalism.
The stranded emigrants settled into two camps during the harsh winter of 1846 and '47, and previous scientific studies confirmed cannibalism at the principal encampment, on the east shore of what is now Donner Lake.
The new findings do not conclusively prove that human flesh was ever consumed at the smaller camp -- where the families of George and Jacob Donner sought refuge -- but they do provide insights into their efforts to survive during four months beside Alder Creek.
"It's possible no cannibalism took place at Alder Creek, and it's also possible that proof simply can't be found," said Julie Schablitsky, a University of Oregon anthropologist. "No body doesn't necessarily mean no crime."
Cannibalism has long been the central focus of the Donner Party tragedy, which achieved mythic proportions as a tale of suffering and stoicism set in America's westward expansion.
The wagon train of more than 80 emigrants was trapped in the teeth of the Sierra by winter, and half died amid starvation. Gory witness accounts by rescuers told of survivors resorting to eating human flesh.
The results from the archeological dig there cheered a modern descendant of the Donner family.
"It's wonderful news," said Lochie Paige, whose great-grandmother, Elitha Donner, made it out of the Sierra alive but saw the rest of her years shadowed by the tragedy.
"My dad always said she had not been any part of cannibalism. Now we have the scientific proof," Paige said.
Schablitsky and her collaborator in the three-year study, anthropologist Kelly Dixon of the University of Montana, announced their findings during a 20-minute presentation at the Society for Historical Archeology conference here.
They formed a team of scientists in 2003 and applied the techniques of modern forensic crime examiners to look anew at one of the American West's most enduring tales of tragedy.
They used DNA tests, electron microscopes and other modern research tools to analyze more than 16,000 bone fragments -- most measuring less than a half inch -- found in the principal cook fire used by the Donner family over four months.
But they discovered no human bones.
