ABSTRACT
Forensic human skeletal analysis frequently begins in the dirt. The systematic recovery, to include the complete documentation of “archaeological” contexts, is every bit as critical to the successful identification of the remains as are the remains themselves. This fact tends to be overlooked by physical anthropologists operating in academic environments concerned with humans at the population level, as well as by researchers trained on museum collections and other curated resources for which the source and recovery context of the material being analyzed is either unimportant or may not be fully (or accurately) documented. It is obvious, therefore, that any training regimen in forensic anthropology and forensic archaeology should begin with a thorough understanding of methods for locating buried human remains.
