Kansan to play role in dictator’s trial

Archeologist will investigate mass graves

A Tecumseh man will participate in what could become one of history’s most important archeological events.

Randy Thies, an archeologist with the Kansas State Historical Society, has been selected as a civilian contractor to excavate and document mass graves of people killed by Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi regime.

“This is a great opportunity,” Thies said. “It feels very exciting. This is like the culmination of my career. But the large part of this is to gather evidence against Saddam Hussein for his upcoming trial on charges of crimes against humanity.”

Heading out in late January or early February, Thies, who has given presentations for the Douglas County Historical Society, will work as an evidence technician and archeologist in Iraq, where he will be stationed in Baghdad for about six months. As an evidence technician, Thies will determine the cause of death of people buried in the mass graves and attempt to identify them.

He said his wife, Karla, is “naturally apprehensive” about his new job, but that she understands his desire to take the opportunity.

This is the second deployment of civilian contractors sent by the United States into Iraq to excavate mass graves and prepare forensic evidence of crimes against humanity.

Randy Thies has been selected to go to Iraq to work as an evidence technician and archeologist, as part of an effort to excavate and document mass graves of people killed by Saddam Hussein's former Iraqi regime. Thies is pictured Thursday with comparative bone and skull specimens at his place of work in the Kansas State Historical Society in Topeka.

According to the U.S. Agency for International Development, there have been reports of 260 to 270 mass graves in Iraq, and about 53 have actually been confirmed. Reports indicate that anywhere from 300,000 to 400,000 bodies have been buried in the graves. Those bodies include Shiites, Kurds and Sunnis, as well as people from Kuwait, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Iran living in Iraq.

“If these numbers prove accurate, they represent a crime against humanity surpassed only by the Rwandan genocide of 1994, Pol Pot’s Cambodian killing fields in the 1970s and the Nazi Holocaust of World War II,” reads a portion of a release on the USAID Web site.

Thies said the project would be emotionally taxing. While Thies had become accustomed to working with Kansas burial sites in the state during the last 25 years, he mainly has worked with bones from older sites and not much with soft tissue. But he said he’d manage OK.

“There’s something special about working on human bodies,” Thies said. “It’s an honor. You’re looking at human beings — not just an artifact — and these are people who have been executed.”

Trained as a prehistoric archeologist, Thies applied for the Iraqi excavation project in late November. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers selected him with six to eight other people who will serve as evidence technicians and five to seven archeologists.

Thies said one of the reasons he was selected was because of his experience as an archeologist and an evidence technician.

Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein stands inside the doorway of a court near Baghdad. In July, he appeared in chains in the courtroom, where he was read charges of committing crimes against his own people.

“I could do double duty, but they primarily hired me as an evidence technician,” he said. Thies, however, is hoping he gets the opportunity to go into the field and put his archeology skills to work.

Thies expects to return to his job at the state historical society in July.

Thies received his master’s in anthropology and sociology from Iowa State University in 1979. He attended Washburn University and graduated in 1974. During his time at Washburn, Thies worked at the Kansas State Historical Society.

Since working for the state historical society, Thies has investigated some of the state’s most well-known burial sites, including the Salina Burial Pit. The Salina Burial Pit is a 700-year-old American Indian burial site that had 170 people.