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This paper employs an interdisciplinary anthropological approach to a historical hydrological mass disaster to highlight the long term and ongoing significance of water based mass disasters on the surrounding community. Hydrological disasters, both natural and the result of human agency, can lead to extensive fatalities within the local population. Accurate identification of the deceased following any mass disaster event is known to be vital to fulfil the legal and humanitarian requirements of the living. The physical properties of hydrological disaster scenarios, however, can result in large numbers of long term missing bodies that do not allow for identification and the proof of death. The inability to confirm the death of a loved one and to bury a body has a significant impact on the family of the deceased and the long term treatment of the missing, or ‘virtual’ bodies, can cause moral injury and distress to surviving family members.

The Vajont disaster in northern Italy in 1963 killed almost 2,000 people when a landslide from Mont Toc collapsed into the Vajont dam triggering a 50,000,000 m3 inland tsunami. The resulting wave swept over the surrounding villages of Longarone, Erto and Casso with such destructive force that bodies were swept as far away as Venice and the remains of over 700 individuals were never located. This paper will discuss the processes used to retrieve and identify bodies after the disaster, prior to development of forensic anthropology as a discipline, and the process of the initial and secondary burials of victims, including the so called ‘virtual’ graves of the missing. The discussion highlights the need to further engage forensic anthropological theory and practice within a wider academic and humanitarian framework, engaging in interdisciplinary conversations with areas such as medical anthropology, disaster victim identification management and mortuary practices. The consideration of the long term consequences of the management of the dead and the employment of a historically deep approach to disaster victim identification will inform and develop the current practices of teaching forensic anthropology in universities and allow for a more holistic and comprehensive practice.