On Thursday, December 17, 2026, Old Pueblo Archaeology Center’s “Third Thursday Food for Thought” online presentation will feature “Employment of Historic Human Remains Detection Dogs in Archaeology” by dog handlers Karen Paquette and Mark Paquette. This free online Zoom presentation will be held from 7:00-8:30 pm, Mountain Standard Time.

It is well known that dogs are incredible odor detectors. Quite recently, dogs are being employed to detect very old human remains – aged hundreds to thousands of years from present. While many dogs can be trained to locate relatively recent human remains (these are cadaver dogs), only a few are specialized to indicate the presence of aged and historical human remains. In this presentation Karen and Mark Paquette, members of the F.I.R.S.T. Detection K9 nonprofit organization, will share their definition of historic human remains detection (HHRD) dogs and inform how these HHRD dogs are economical, flexible, and noninvasive detectors applicable to a vast array of archaeological research projects and needs. They will discuss and illustrate these canines’ capabilities as well as limitations and will talk about the ethics of using HHRD dogs on sensitive archaeological sites.

To register for the Zoom webinar go to https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_oIOkJUcOQJ2CI-B5vlTLJQ. For more information contact Old Pueblo at info@oldpueblo.org or 520-798-1201.

Flyer: 20261217(v1)ThirdThursday_Karen&MarkPaquette_HumanRemainsDetectionDogs
Caption: Mark Paquette and K9 Breicne at Firecracker Pueblo kiva in El Paso, photo courtesy of Karen Paquette