ABSTRACT
Much forensic taphonomic analysis is undertaken to elucidate the decay of evidence. In the case of clandestine removal of bodies from mass graves ** the taphonomic data are the evidence (cf. Holland et al., 1997). Recent investigations undertaken by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) *** and International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) suggest strongly that in the aftermath of hostilities in the former Yugoslavia, several mass graves were emptied and the remains disposed elsewhere. For example, on November 4, 1996, Newsweek quoted Dr. R. Kirschner, Director, International Forensic Program, PHR, as observing about the Lazete Site: “We have several bags of extra limbs and other body parts [which] indicates there has been tampering” (Sullivan, 1996). Similarly, a UN team found only 146 bodies along with miscellaneous unmatched limbs and appendages at the site of Pilica where up to 1200 Muslims died on July 6, 1995, according to Drazen Erdemovic, a confessed Serb executioner testifying at the Hague. Significantly, satellite photographs taken 3 months after interment showed heavy equipment returned to the site (Stover and Peress 1998). By contrast there was no evidence of tampering at the site of Nova Kosaba which yielded only 33 bodies when more than 600 were expected (Sullivan, 1996).
