Do not forget that Yurovsky reports:"I drove to Voikov, head of supply in the Urals, to get petrol or kerosene, sulphuric acid too (to disfigure the faces) and, besides that, spades. I commandeered ten carts without drivers from the prison. Everything was loaded on and we drove off."
Petrol or Kerosene will create a fire of MUCH more heat and intensity than an ordinary "bonfire". It is very possible that the fire reached sufficient temperatures. The main problem, IMO, is that it took too much petrol to burn everyone sufficiently, which is why they abandoned the effort.
Also, they said that they built a second fire over the remains of the first and then buried that to disguise what was going on. There may not have been much left. Another possibility about the remains is this. Woodash when soaked with water turns into Lye. Given the remains of the first two were buried underneath quite a large amount of wood ash, every time it rained lye would have soaked the remains and made short work of what was left....
Again, my opinion, but I think it follows plausibly.
Sorry, I have to respectfully disagree with you. I don't think it's possible that the fire reached sufficient temperatures to destroy two bodies. Kerosene and/or petrol will certainly make the fire more intense, but it wouldnt've made much of a difference, temperature-wise, because they were burning in a forest, with plenty of air, which would allow for much of the heat to escape. They would've been charred, but no way would this fire have been hot enough to destroy bones, etc.
The site was severely tampered with on all occassions, starting with the process of disposal. When some fragments were found and removed by Sokolov in 1918, then I believe the physical contamination of the site commenced at that time. Are we really certain that others did not follow the same path of discovery before Avdonin did in 1979?
We're talking two sets of human remains here, not fragments. And Sokolov didn't excavate or attempt to exacavate the grave in Pig's Meadow. He focused predominantly on the Four Brothers.
The problem I have with the "removal of two of the bodies from the mass grave after the murders" is that it would've had to've been very recently after the murders, otherwise there'd be just bones, and how do you successfully tell which bones belong to who, to successfully remove two sets of remains completely, leaving behind no teeth, nothing? It's just not plausible (or possible). Moreover,
why would you remove only two sets, leaving the others?
