Human remains resting in a remote Arctic cairn, visible emblems of one of the North’s most enduring mysteries, finally have a name.
Scientists have managed to identify bones belonging to a member of the Franklin expedition, a 19th-century voyage of exploration and discovery that ended in disaster, starvation and death. James Fitzjames—only the second member of the expedition’s crew to be identified by DNA—captained one of the expedition’s two ships and served as second-in-command after Sir John Franklin’s death.
“It helps us ask new questions about what really transpired,” said Doug Stenton, an archeologist at the University of Waterloo whose paper on the identification was released Tuesday….