Its main tool in pursuing this goal is the application of forensic anthropology techniques in exhumations of clandestine mass graves.
Its endeavours in this regard allow the relatives of the disappeared to recuperate the remains of their missing family members and to proceed with burials in accordance with their beliefs, and enable criminal prosecutions to be brought against the perpetrators.
[1] In 1990 and 1991, various groups of survivors began to report to the authorities the existence of clandestine graves in their communities, most of which contained the bodies of Maya campesinos massacred during the "scorched earth" policy pursued by the government in the early 1980s.
The Team was supported in its early years by a donation from the American Association for the Advancement of Science of the United States, and its first director was Stefan Schmitt, who has since worked on exhumations in Rwanda and Former Yugoslavia.
In July 1992 the EAFG carried out its first field project at San José Pachó Lemoa in El Quiché department.