Because of the COVID shutdown, the cleaning of skeletal remains found in Ridgefield in late 2019 had been on hold.  The Yale University lab is opening back up, and undergraduate assistants and lab workers are back on the job.  The skeletons are believed to be Revolutionary War-era.  Dr. Gary Aronsen told the Ridgefield Historical Society that the work is proceeding slowly because many of the elements are encased in a thick and hard matrix, making cleaning difficult. The work is being largely done with toothpicks and small wooden implements and the bone conditions range from flaky and friable to more robust and easily separated from the surrounding matrix.  From what he’s seen so far, Aronsen says the elements are consistent with identification as large adult males with heavy muscle markings.  He notes that there have been some interesting indicators of pathology and injury but these cannot be fully interpreted until cleaning is completed.  Once cleaning and sorting is done, genetic and other analyses could provide a more nuanced overview of each individual’s life history.