Solving the Mysteries of History

A couple of months ago, I read the book The Death of Meriwether: A Historic Crime Scene Investigation. This books deals specifically with the circumstances surrounding the death of Meriwether Lewis, and it specifically mentions what new efforts have taken place in the last few years to move closer to solving the case. This book has made me wonder how the latest technology and forensic methods are being used to solve long standing historical mysteries and begs the question: Should technology be used to solve these mysteries?

In the case of Meriwether Lewis, a Coroner's Inquest was held in 1996 to determine if an exhumation is needed to resolve question of whether his death was suicide or murder. I wrote in my review that the jury determined, that yes, an exhumation of his remains was warranted to gather more evidence. The man behind this movement is James E. Starrs, a professor of forensic science. Starrs has done investigations of the remains of other historical figures, such as Jessie James. His main argument is that Lewis' remains might be able to tell us whether or not he was murdered or committed suicide. Apparently, the jury agreed with him.

I first heard mention of this decision to exhume the remains from a great blog on Lewis and Clark, Frances Hunter's American Heroes Blog. My initial reaction was that it is sort of fun not knowing what happened to Lewis and being able to speculate. There are other historical mysteries that have been written about for years that historians are trying to find the truth about. There are other considerations to keep in mind when trying to solve these mysteries, such as the preservation of historical areas, concerns of family members, and so on.

However, after reading this book, I believe that the exhumation of Meriwether Lewis' remains might go a long way in helping solve the case. It could be exciting finding out the truth as to how he died after 200 years. Forensics and other areas of science have the potential to open huge doors in finding out the truth of historical mysteries. The Lewis family descendants are currently fighting for the exhumation to take place. On of the main problems is that his presumed remains are buried on national land. But I believe we owe it, not only to the family and to history, but also to Lewis himself to solve this mystery.

What do you think? Should the remains be exhumed? Should science and technology be used to solve the mysteries of history?