New archaeological research shows that cadaver dogs, or human remains detection dogs, can help locate unmarked graves and burial grounds that are hundreds or even thousands of years old.

The work to find burial sites of the enslaved, as well as historic African-American cemeteries, is particularly urgent. Development, the passage of time, and nature itself threaten untold numbers of burial grounds. Activists, historians, and archaeologists are teaming up with cadaver-dog teams to locate—and preserve—lost and abandoned cemeteries.

What is the fascinating science behind using scent-detection dogs to help find these important sites? What are the political and practical problems? What is the potential?

Cat Warren is the New York Times bestselling author of What the Dog Knows: Scent, Science, and the Amazing Ways Dogs Perceive the World.

The book tells the story of learning to work with her impossible young shepherd as a cadaver dog to find the missing and dead. It won critical acclaim and was longlisted for the PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award. The Young Readers Edition of What the Dog Knows was published in October 2019.

Cat grew up in the country in Oregon and worked as a newspaper journalist for many years across the United States. She recently retired as a professor from North Carolina State University, but still writes, teaches, and lectures. She lives with her husband and their large German shepherd in Durham, N.C.

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