ABSTRACT
In addition, burning impacts each and every protocol codified by Snow (1982) in his guidelines. Burning makes it difficult to differentiate bone from other materials. It further affects our ability to assess whether bone is human or nonhuman and the number of individuals who may be represented in an assemblage. Clearly, dealing with burned remains presents a unique and complex situation for practicing forensic anthropologists. This chapter provides an overview of the manner in which fire affects and modifies the hard and soft tissues, alters scene processing methods in the search and recovery for burned bones, and impacts laboratory analyses. In addition, given the potential for burned remains to represent a commingled scene, we detail the process for determining the minimum number of individuals. This chapter discusses both of these situations: fire and commingled remains. While these are potentially interconnected variables in forensic case work, the focus here will be on these as two distinct situations. Following completion of this chapter, readers will appreciate guidelines for how to best discover, recover, and analyze burned remains and how to assess commingled material and methods with which to determine the minimum number of individuals represented.
