ABSTRACT
During the past two decades, the disciplines of forensic anthropology and forensic archaeology have both received recognition for their potential contributions to crime scene and death investigations. During the 1980s, there was a growing emphasis by forensic anthropologists and archaeologists on the use of proper archaeological field methods when recovering and excavating human remains from forensic contexts (see Berryman and Lahren, 1984; Morse et al., 1983; Sigler-Eisenberg, 1985; Skinner and Lazenby, 1983; Wolf, 1986). The early proponents of forensic archaeology recognized the legal importance of both the utilization of proper collection techniques for human remains and precise documentation of associated contextual information from crime scenes. Although proper archaeological methods are still not practiced universally by forensic anthropologists and crime scene personnel, the continued emphasis in this area throughout the 1990s (Dirkmaat and Adovasio, 1997; France et al., 1992; France et al., 1997; Hunter et al., 1994; Hunter et al., 1996; Killam, 1990; Scott and Connor, 1997) has led to forensic archaeology being recognized as its own discipline.
