Credits and Behind the ScenesClues from the Bones was created by the TBH team of Editor Susan Dial, Web Developer Heather Smith, and Education Advisors Laine Leibick and Carol Schlenk (see About TBH to learn more). Data was drawn from several sources including an unpublished report on the Belle skeleton, "Human Skeletal Analysis," by D. Gentry Steele and Michelle Raisor of Texas A&M University. Images used in this exhibit were contributed primarily by the Texas A&M Conservation Research Laboratory and the Texas Historical Commission. The anatomy chart used in the laboratory analysis activity is from Wikipedia. A number of the images were altered to include Dr. Dirt, the Armadillo Archeologist. |
Below, we meet the actual scientists (Ph.D. doctors) who performed the many different types of analyses on the Belle skeleton. This team gave meaning to the 300-year-old bones, helping us understand what life must have been like for this young Frenchman traveling to the New World. |
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Meet Monsieur BarangeThe reconstructed head of the Belle sailor has been painted, and a wig added to provide a more realistic look. Likely, the real sailor would have had a beard and longer hair. He probably would have looked much more wrinkled and battered after having suffered a hard trip at sea and an even worse time stuck on board the ship in Matagorda Bay! |
Sources to Learn More about the Belle Skeleton and ShipwreckLa Belle Shipwreck: a multi-section exhibit on Texas Beyond History, including a correlated lesson for teachers: www.texasbeyondhistory.net/belle/index.html Texas A&M Conservation Research Laboratory: Conserving the Human Skeleton Found on the Belle http://nautarch.tamu.edu/CRL/Report4/skeletal.htm Texas Historical Commission: Belle Sailor Honored at Special Funeral http://www.thc.state.tx.us/lasalle/lasburial.shtml Bruseth, James E. and Toni S. Turner Henri Joutel, Johanna S. Warren (Translator), William C. Foster (Editor) Mitchell, Mark G. |