ABSTRACT
Until relatively recently forensic anthropology was not routinely employed in mass-fatality investigations. Opinion began to change when anthropological expertise came to the fore in the identification of the victims of war crimes and violations of human rights in South America and then in Rwanda (Ferllini 1999), followed in rapid succession by investigations of the atrocities witnessed in East Timor, Sierra Leone, and the former Yugoslavia (Glenny 2000; Komar 2003; Baraybar & Gasior 2004; Steadman & Haglund 2005). Now, as a result of large-scale deaths related to terrorist-related incidents (for example, Bali bombing [see Buck & Briggs, Chapter 35 this volume], 9/11 terrorist attacks, London bombings, and the bombing at Sharm el Sheikh, to name only a few) and natural disasters (for instance, the Asian Tsunami, Hurricane Katrina), the position of forensic anthropology has been more firmly secured within war crimes investigations and global Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) response capabilities (Lain, Griffiths, & Hilton 2003; MacKinnon & Mundorff 2007; Black et al. 2011; Mundorff 2012; Mundorff et al. 2015). Indeed, forensic anthropology continues to be a major component of many national DVI training programs and response capability (Cattaneo 2007; Black et al. 2008; Dirkmaat et al. 2008).
