Recent trends in the recovery and examination of human remains in forensic archaeology and anthropology


In the past decades both forensic archaeology and forensic anthropology have developed into valuable disciplines for the recovery and examination of human remains in the case of armed conflict and mass disasters.This presentation will look back at work in former Yugoslavia and will describe the implementation of archaeological and physical anthropological techniques in two projects.
Based on experiences in forensic projects in former Yugoslavia, Rwanda and Thailand new protocols have been developed for forensic teams. For the identification of human remains these protocols strongly rely on DNA. This leaves room for discussion whether “new” techniques have sufficiently been included in these protocols.