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Understanding the Circumstances of Decomposition When the Body Is Skeletonized

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Forensic Anthropology and Medicine

Abstract

When a skeletonized body is found, the presence of an anthropologist is required to understand the circumstances of which the human remains reached the situation in which they are discovered. For this purpose, archaeological anthropology (called field archaeology) and forensic anthropology share the same techniques. This chapter aims to advise as to what should be done and registered precisely on the field when bone remains are exhumed or found on the surface of the ground. It also describes in detail the osteological observations that enable determination of whether it is a primary or a secondary deposit, and to restitute the cadaver environment. This methodological approach is enlarged to include multiple deposits. Although this discipline has mostly been developed in the archaeological funerary context, it provides valuable analysis tools when human bones are involved.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. UMR 5199, PACEA, Laboratoire d’Anthropologie des Populations du Passé, Université Bordeaux 1, Talence, France

    Henri Duday

  2. Anthropologie, Institut National de Recherches Archéologiques Préventives, UMR 5199 Laboratoire d’Anthropologie des Populations du Passé, France

    Mark Guillon

Authors
  1. Henri Duday
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  2. Mark Guillon
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire d’Anthropologie des Populations du Passé, Université Bordeaux 1, Talence, France

    Aurore Schmitt PhD

  2. Departamento de Antropologia, Universidade de Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal

    Eugénia Cunha PhD

  3. Serviço Tanatologia Forense, Instituto Nacional de Medicina Legal, Coimbra, Portugal

    João Pinheiro MD, MSci

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© 2006 Humana Press Inc., Totowa, NJ

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Duday, H., Guillon, M. (2006). Understanding the Circumstances of Decomposition When the Body Is Skeletonized. In: Schmitt, A., Cunha, E., Pinheiro, J. (eds) Forensic Anthropology and Medicine. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59745-099-7_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59745-099-7_6

  • Publisher Name: Humana Press

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-58829-824-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-59745-099-7

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

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