Anthropology and Osteology

Anthropology and osteology play a fundamental role during the retrieval of cadavers or unidentified human remains, particularly as concerns identification. In several scenarios of scenes of crime, the pathologist might not have proper training to retrieve and properly deal with human skeletal remains. A well-trained osteologist will recognize a single bone as being human or not. It is much more difficult to determine the species of origin when the material is fragmented or degraded. Determination of the sex of human remains is frequently immediate even in severely decomposed cadavers due to the fact that internal genital organs are usually the last soft tissues to disappear. Once the biological profile has been reconstructed, and the skeleton has been checked for dental work or anomalies, bone calluses, or other pathologies which may aid in identification, the entire procedure can be completed with facial approximation.