FIELD PROCEDURES FOR SKELETAL REMAINS

This chapter introduces procedures useful in recovering skeletal material. It is organized in an approximately chronological manner to discuss aspects of discovery, techniques of retrieval and excavation, and transport of skeletal material. Forensic investigations that involves osteological remains follow official government protocols, such as the Central Identification Laboratory Hawaii (U.S. Armed Forces; CILHI), and the Armed Forces Medical Examiner (Armed Forces Institute of Pathology; AFIP). They offer Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) that govern how osteological materials are to be treated by personnel. SOP often includes scene procedures, sampling procedures, laboratory procedures, reporting procedures, storage procedures, equipment procedures, and safety procedures. An osteologist should become familiar with these official protocols and procedures whenever involved in a forensic investigation. In every aspect of osteological analysis, there is no single formula, recipe, or procedure to apply in; there are simply too many different discovery contexts and too many preservational variations involving osteological remains, such as Cemetery excavation is different from isolated skeleton excavation. Skeletal remains are often found by accident. For example, hikers and construction crews often find osteological material. Because there are many more dog, horse, cow, and goat bones than human bones on the surface of most landscapes, these are often mistaken for human bones by laypersons and amateurs. A general rule for practicing human osteologist is to assume that law-enforcement personnel who often first encounter such remains (including, in some cases, coroners) are not qualified to render accurate opinions on isolated, fragmentary skeletal remain.