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The Joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre Commemorations team (JCCC), part of the British Ministry of Defence, is responsible for managing the identification of human remains from British casualties who fell during WWI and WWII primarily. With this task in mind, the work to identify and rebury the historic battle casualties is at the heart of this team’s work. In addition, the team also considers new evidence regarding possible identification of an individual buried as “unknown” and they administer the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986. This paper provides an insight into the work undertaken by this Team, identifying and commemorating the remains of WWI and WWII British casualties. The paper also includes several case studies.

Conflict casualties refer to those individuals who are lost due to military conflict or war. The involvement of forensic archaeologists and anthropologists in the legal search, recovery, documentation, identification, and repatriation/reburial of conflict casualties is well known. Internationally, there are a number of professional organisations who ethically recover and identify these individuals. However, at the same time, some organisations and individuals have raised significant concerns about working in other countries, understanding specific laws and protocols, and how the whole recovery and identification process should be undertaken. Through this special issue, Forensic Science International is interested in promoting these investigative good-practice procedures, illustrated with case studies, and ethical and legal considerations when undertaking and disseminating these humanitarian missions to the wider forensic community. This Special Issue focuses primarily on the First and Second World Wars, yet other conflicts are covered, and includes the views and perspectives from different organisations within specific countries in the format of original papers, commentaries, and case reports. Specifically, these papers include the legislative regulations, information regarding the authorities to be consulted on and who deal with human remains, the organisations and professionals who are involved with the recovery and analysis of human remains, the process of identification, and how this information is disseminated to the public.

In 2012, Texas surpassed Arizona in migrant deaths. The majority of deaths occurred in the Rio Grande Valley, specifically in Brooks County, Texas. Brooks County is one of the poorest in the state and was overwhelmed with deaths, without appropriate resources to follow the state laws pertaining to the investigation of unidentified human remains. Until 2013, most remains that were not immediately identified were buried without collecting DNA samples and the location of burials was not recorded. Our paper outlines the difficulties searching for these burials, the struggles of the families of the missing, and the collaborative approaches to facilitating identifications in South Texas. Community outreach combined with geophysical surveys guide which cemeteries are in need of exhumations. Once cemeteries are surveyed, archaeological methods are employed to exhume remains and document burials. Remains are taken to the Forensic Anthropology Center at Texas State for processing, analysis, and identification efforts. Undergraduate and graduate students clean remains and wash clothing and personal effects. After skeletal analysis, all information regarding the remains, including photographs of personal effects, are uploaded to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) and a DNA sample is submitted to the University of North Texas for inclusion in the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) DNA database. However, CODIS lacks DNA family reference samples from many families of the missing due to families living outside the US or because they do not feel comfortable providing a DNA sample in the presence of law enforcement. Therefore, it is necessary to work with non-governmental organizations who specialize in collecting missing persons reports and DNA samples from the families of the missing. Working collaboratively with multiple agencies, identification of migrant remains is possible.

The aim of this work is to advance the knowledge of peri- and postmortem corporeal circumstances in relation to human remains contexts, as well as to demonstrate the value of that knowledge in forensic and archaeological practice and research. This article-based dissertation encompasses papers in bioarchaeology and forensic anthropology, with an emphasis on taphonomy. The studies include analyses of human osseous material and human decomposition in relation to spatial and social contexts, from both theoretical and methodological perspectives. Taphonomic knowledge is vital to interpretations of the circumstances of peri- and postmortem deposition, with a concern for whether features were created by human hand or the result of decomposition processes and other factors. For example, taphonomic knowledge can aid interpretations of the peri- and postmortem sequence of events, of the agents that have affected human remains, as well as for estimations of time since death. When integrated with social theories, taphonomic information can be used to interpret past events. In this dissertation, a combination of bioarchaeological and forensic taphonomic methods are used to address the question of what processes have shaped mortuary contexts. Specifically, these questions are raised in relation to the peri- and postmortem circumstances of the dead in the Iron Age ringfort of Sandby borg, and about the rate and progress of human decomposition in a Swedish outdoor environment and in a coffin. Additionally, the question is raised of how taphonomic knowledge can inform interpretations of mortuary contexts, and of the current state and potential developments of forensic anthropology and archaeology in Sweden. The result provides us with information of depositional history in terms of events that created and modified deposits of human remains. Furthermore, this research highlights some limitations in taphonomic reconstructions. The research presented here is helpful for interpretations of what has occurred in the distant as well as recent pasts, to understand potentially confounding factors, and how forensic anthropology can benefit Swedish crime scene investigations. In so doing, the knowledge of peri- and postmortem corporeal circumstances and how it can be used has been advanced in relation to both the archaeological and forensic fields.

In the context of exhumations of individuals who died during the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), since the year 2000, over 780 mass graves have been excavated using archaeological methodology and following forensic protocols. Most of the recovered more than 9600 bodies have tended to be from the Republican civil population, the majority having been executed extrajudicially. However, a number of exhumations relate to the remains of soldiers who died in combat. In fact, approximately 100 individual or mass graves have been investigated and exhumed, containing the remains of combatants. These burials tend to be in the same location where they fell, usually in the front line, or close to the field hospitals where they went after being wounded initially. During the recovery of the human remains, a number of artefacts related to the uniform as well as personal effects have been found. An interdisciplinary approach from archaeology, anthropology, genetics, history and other disciplines has enabled the identification of some of these combatants. The aim of this paper is to present the data obtained from these combatants and highlight the work undertaken in Spain, and the efforts by scientists to exhume, identify and return the remains to relatives where possible.

The Hungarian war grave care professionals weren’t in an easy situation when they started the work because, until 2012, the burial places of Hungarian soldiers had no legal protection. It was necessary to develop legal regulations and scientific methods. Since this is a multidisciplinary field, the work is quite compound as many professionals from different field of sciences work together. This work requires the harmonic work of military historians, archaeologists, anthropologists and geneticists. Thanks to the conscientious work of these professionals, nowadays, we can talk about a stable institutionalized, multidisciplinary war grave care in Hungary which encompasses the work of the above-mentioned professionals. Thanks to scientific development, new opportunities are available for the professionals to identify war heroic deads. In this article, the history and the formation of the Hungarian war grave care are introduced and the methodology of the Hungarian war grave care professionals work is shown. The paper also aims to illustrate the changes in laws and the standard practice currently followed by professionals during the exploration and the processing of the human remains.

Recovery, identification, and burial of casualties from World War I and II is still a topic of interest in many countries. In Slovakia, recent discoveries of such remains are usually accidental. Unfortunately, in many cases the remains are disrupted and without any material culture present, rendering the identification of the victim almost impossible. Majority of accidental skeletal remains are analyzed by legal medical doctors at forensic medicine departments spread across ten regional workplaces around the country. The aim of the paper is to point out the problems with recovery and identification of World War I and World War II remains in Slovakia.

Long bone shaft fragments can be found isolated in archaeological and forensic contexts, such as in mass fatality incidents. When diagnostic morphological landmarks are not visible, the assessment of a human or non-human origin of a bone fragment can be challenging. Further methods need to be developed. In long bones, the presence of a nutrient foramen on fragments that do not show any diagnostic landmarks can make the assessment of the origin of the bone still possible. In this paper, human long bones were compared to those of the following species: chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus), duck (Cairina moschata), sheep (Ovis aries), pig (Sus scrofa domesticus), and deer (fallow deer, Dama dama, and roe deer, Capreolus capreolus). Macroscopic evaluation of location, direction and appearance, and micro-CT scanning in order to measure angle and shape of canal entrance, were applied in this study to differentiate human from non-human nutrient foramina on long bone shafts. Observations regarding the location and direction of nutrient foramina were proven to be different between human and non-human bones; however, these two features might not be exploitable in cases of highly fragmented bones. The foramina appearance was the most reliable for the origin identification, although the shape of the canal entrance and its angle at the cortical bone, obtained from micro-CT scans, were also useful parameters. For a correct identification of a fragment, one parameter may not be enough and it is advisable to employ as many features as possible. This research demonstrates that nutrient foramina have potential as a reliable bone feature for the distinction between human and non-human fragmented and incomplete long bones.

This paper will discuss the complexity of the investigation of mass graves in today's Serbia (part of ex Yugoslavia), belonging primarily to WWII with an exception of one mass grave from WWI, through the prism of historical events behind it. By interpreting historical and political circumstances, we will show why and on what occasions mass graves, as cultural-historical monuments and symbols of the sufferings of Serbs, Jews, Romani, and other nations or ethnic groups, remained outside the focus of expert teams. Also, through examples of explored sites related to WWII (Visnjica, Topola, Kragujevac, Ada Ciganlija), it will be shown the importance of engaging the forensic expert teams to locate sites, identifing victims and interpretation of historical events from their perspective.

In recent years there has been an increase in the numbers of archaeologists and physical anthropologists involved in searching, locating and assisting in the identification of war casualties. These scientists have played an invaluable role within a larger team of professionals, working together to provide a dignified burial to those who fell for their country and remembering them. This paper reviews some of the work undertaken in Europe with regard to WWI casualties and how the war missing are located and ultimately identified when possible, bringing also some closure to their living relatives.

In 1945, the British Air Ministry established the Royal Air Force (RAF) Missing Research and Enquiry Service, to trace all of the RAF's wartime overseas casualties. Although a broad range of search techniques were used to find the resting places of personnel who were either known to have been killed or listed as missing, positive identification remained largely contingent upon an exhumation of their remains. This paper explores the forensic pathology and forensics techniques known to and used by the Search Officers involved.

"Forensic podiatry is defined as the application of sound and researched podiatric knowledge and experience in forensic investigations; to show the association of an individual with a scene of crime, or to answer any other legal question concerned with the foot or footwear that requires knowledge of the functioning foot". Forensic podiatrists can contribute to forensic identification by associating the pedal evidence with the criminal or crime scene. The most common pedal evidence collected from the crime scene is in the form of footprints, shoeprints and their tracks and trails. Forensic podiatrists can establish identity of the individuals from the footprints in many ways. The analysis of bare footprints involves the identification based on the individualistic features like flat footedness, ridges, humps, creases, an extra toe, missing toe, corns, cuts, cracks, pits, deformities, and various features of the toe and heel region. All these individualistic features can link the criminal with the crime. In addition to these, parameters of body size like stature and body weight as well as sex can also be estimated by using anthropometric methods. If a series of footprints are recovered from the crime scene, then parameters of the gait analysis such as stride/step length and general movement of the criminal can be traced. Apart from these, a newly established biometric parameter of the footprints i.e. footprint ridge density can also be evaluated for personal identification. Careful analysis of the footprint ridge density can give an idea about the sex of the criminal whose footprints are recovered at the scene which can further help to reduce the burden of the investigating officer as the investigations then may be directed toward either a male suspect or a female suspect accordingly. This paper highlights various aspects of Forensic Podiatry and discusses the different methods of personal identification related to pedal evidence.

The unique reddish blood stains on the archaeological cloth known as the Shroud of Turin caught the attention of several scholars, who proposed different hypotheses to explain the unusual blood color. To date, just a few hypotheses have been tested experimentally, and the results are debatable. In this paper, we test the strength of two hypotheses (namely, the presence of carboxyhemoglobin and the long-term influence of ultraviolet light on high-bilirubin blood) by the spectral reflectance of the blood stained regions on the Shroud and by color analyses of ultraviolet irradiated high-bilirubin blood stains on linen. The relevance of these simple methods to the study of stained textiles is discussed. (C) 2018 Optical Society of America

Archival research into episodes of frontier violence in the Kimberley region of Western Australia indicate that the bodies of Aboriginal victims of massacres were frequently incinerated following the event. This paper presents the results of a scientific investigation of a reported massacre at Sturt Creek where burnt bone fragments were identified in two adjacent sites and documents the archaeological signatures associated with the sites. The methodology used to undertake the project brought together three systems of knowledge: the oral testimonies of the descent group originating from a sole adult survivor of the massacre; archival, historical and scientific research. An archaeological survey defined the two distinct sites containing hundreds of fragile bone fragments; a third site was found to be highly disturbed. Scientific investigations included macroscopic and microscopic examination of selected bone fragments by an anatomical pathologist and a zooarchaeologist and X-ray diffraction analysis of sixteen bone fragments. The anatomical pathologist and zooarchaeologist undertook macroscopic and microscopic examinations of selected bone samples to identify morphological evidence for human origin. It was concluded that three bone fragments examined may have been human, and two of the fragments may have been from the vault of a skull. It was concluded that the likelihood of them being human would be strengthened if it was found that the three samples had been subjected to high temperatures. X-ray diffraction analysis of 16 bone fragments provided this evidence. All fragments showed sharp hydroxylapatite peaks (crystallite sizes 9882nm and 597nm respectively) and all had been subjected to extreme temperatures of either 600°C for more than 80h, 650°C for more than 20h, 700°C for more than 4h or 800°C for more than 1h. XRD analyses were also done on bone samples collected from three cooking hearths at three different archaeological sites. It was found that two of the three samples had been exposed to substantially lower temperatures for a short time period. It was concluded that there was strong pathological and archaeological evidence that the bone fragments were human in origin, but that the evidence was not conclusive. This research also identified archaeological signatures for the identification of massacre sites in similar Australian environments and circumstances.

compilation Postmortem interval dünyada modern adli bilim uygulamalarında çok önemli yere sahip araştırma konularından birisi olarak karşımıza çıkmaktadır. Postmortem intervalin belirlenmesinde morfolojik, biyokimyasal, adli patolojik, flowsitometrik, mikrobiyolojik, entomolojik, antropolojik, spektroskopik ve ana postmortem değişimler gibi çok sayıda yöntem kullanılmasına karşın tek bir test ya da yöntem ile kesinlik içeren sonuçların verilebilmesi mümkün görülmediğinden kullanılan parametreleri etkileyen birçok fiziksel, kimyasal ve biyolojik süreç bulunmaktadır. Bu nedenle, postmortem interval hesaplanmasında mümkün olduğunca yeni yönteme ve kullanılagelen yöntemlerin geliştirilmesine ihtiyaç duyulmaktadır. Bu noktada, postmortem interval tahmininde kullanılan tafonomik yöntemlerin de geliştirilmesi, uygulamalı çalışmalarla bölgesel faktörler ve iklim etkisinin ortaya konması gerekmektedir. Özellikle, postmortem sürece etki eden bölgesel faktörlerin belirlenmesi ile ölüm sonrası geçen sürenin tahmininde daha kesin sonuçlara ulaşılabileceği kanaatindeyiz. Bu makalede, cesedin ayrışma durumuna göre birikmiş gün sıcaklıkları kullanılarak postmortem interval tahmini ile ilgili güncel bilimsel verilerin değerlendirilmesi amaçlanmıştır. Postmortem interval arises as one of the most important research topics in worldwide modern forensic science applications. In spite of utilizing morphological, biochemical, flow-cytometric, microbiological, entomological, anthropological, spectroscopic and main postmortem changes in postmortem interval estimation, it does not seem possible to get certain results by only one test or method, since there are many physical, chemical and biological processes affecting the parameters. Therefore, postmortem interval estimation needs development of previous methods and implementation of novel methods. In this regard, taphonomic methods need to be improved in postmortem interval estimation and regional factors and climate impact need to be determined by experimental studies. In particular, we are of the opinion that that more accurate estimation of postmortem interval will be achieved by determining regional factor involving postmortem period. This paper aims to evaluate the current scientific data related to the estimation of postmortem interval using accumulated degree days in respect of decomposition stages.

Forensic anthropology is an increasingly developing discipline born about a century ago in the United States with the objective to contribute the knowledge of bone biology and physical anthropology to the emerging needs of the court of law. The development of research in biological and forensic anthropology has made rapid progress worldwide in the past few years, however, in most countries--with the exception of the United States--forensic anthropology work is still considered within the duties of the forensic pathologist. This paper attempts to summarise the history and development of forensic anthropology in Thailand by providing information on past and current research and practice that can help forensic practitioners to apply existing methods in forensic cases and mass disasters. It is hoped that the lessons learned from the tsunami catastrophe and the emerging need for positive identification in medicolegal settings will lead to rapid advances in education, training and professional engagement of anthropologists from the forensic departments and the law enforcement agencies in Thailand.

Sex determination based on discriminant function analysis of skeletal measurements is probably the most effective method for assessment of sex in archaeological and contemporary populations due to various reasons, but it also suffers from limitations such as population specificity. In this paper standards for sex assessment from the femur and tibia in the medieval Irish population are presented. Six femoral and six tibial measurements obtained from 56 male and 45 female skeletons were subjected to discriminant function analysis. Average accuracies obtained by this study range between 87.1 and 97%. The highest level of accuracy (97%) was achieved when using combined variables of the femur and tibia (maximum diameter of femoral head and circumference at tibial nutrient foramen), as well as two variables of the tibia (proximal epiphyseal breadth and circumference at nutrient foramen). Discriminant functions using a single variable provided accuracies between 87.1 and 96% with the circumference at the level of the tibial nutrient foramen providing the best separation. High accuracy rates obtained by this research correspond to the data recorded in other studies thus confirming the importance of discriminant function analysis in assessment of sex in both archaeological and forensic contexts.

Bioarcheology is the study of archived human and animal remains. The term was first proposed by the British archeologist Grahame Clark to denote the investigations of animal bones from archeological sites. Since its introduction in 1972, this term has been applied to encompass additional scientific domains and has also been used for the multidisciplinary papers collected in this special issue. Agriculture's first appearance on the archeological horizon is a matter of debate. Evidence provided by multidisciplinary studies encompassing archaeobotany and zooarchaeology and the emergence of agricultural practices in the “fertile crescent” (a crescent shaped area containing fertile lands amidst semiarid regions of Western Asia, the Nile valley, and northeast Africa) in Iran add to the science of ancient agriculture (S. Riehl et al.). Egyptian archeology has been a widely accepted aspect of bioarcheology. Here a wealth of information has been collected with the applications of new techniques to ancient tissues such as X-ray analyses applied in the field to archived human bones (F. Ruhli et al.). Mandibles excavated from Qubbet el-Hawa cemetery in Aswan, Egypt, have yielded information on the food consumed by middle class people during several periods of ancient Egyptian history. The elemental analysis of the bones hinted at social and climatic changes affecting ancient populations and shows the effects of state socialism (a variant socialism in which the power of the state is employed to creating an egalitarian society through the control of production of all goods) and agricultural conditions during the 17th Dynasty in Upper Egypt (G. D. AL-Khafif and R. El-Banna). South American frozen mummies from mountain tops of the high Andes have only recently become available for bioarcheological studies. Such studies have revealed important aspects of human sacrificial practices in pre-Hispanic times. Because of the exceptional preservation of the soft tissues of these mummies due to the intense cold and ambient dryness at altitudes at which they were found, important human pathologies accompanying life under Inca rule have become accessible to modern techniques (M. C. Ceruti). The histology of soft tissues is a well-accepted diagnostic method in modern human pathology. However, its application to ancient tissues brings challenges to the standard interpretation of histological stains because of the variable preservation of specimens depending on numerous unforeseeable factors. The postmortem interval before histological study is one crucial obstacle. The longer this time the less dependable the results. Paleopathological examinations provided guidelines to the tissues likely to be best preserved and allowed the most reliable diagnoses (C. Grove et al.). Successful and cheap methods recently developed for the extraction of ancient DNA (aDNA) have led to important studies in evolution and worldwide human migrations. East Asian mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) especially of Koreans has been used to determine single nucleotide polymorphisms in mtDNA in human bone samples from premodern Joseon tombs in Republic of Korea (C. S. Oh et al.). Archeological materials useful for the study of bioarcheology are conserved in museums throughout the world. Curators prefer the study of their collections by noninvasive methods. The desire to maintain specimens intact is shared by bioarcheologists too. Nevertheless, invasive methods such as autopsies, endoscopies, and biopsies are sometimes unavoidable for accurate diagnosis. In this setting controversies are unavoidable but scientific criteria coupled with ethical considerations are proposed which may resolve disputes (D. Moissidou et al.). Monastic inhabitants of ancient institutions provide fertile grounds for the investigations of diseases and social aspects of a particularly privileged population. Regional differences are not often revealed but when such studies are restricted to defined populations such as those in Bavaria, Germany, insights into paleopathology, nutrition, and lifestyles of a well-defined human group become apparent (A. G. Nerlich et al.). Statistical modeling has advanced science in general and bioarcheology in particular. Growth lines in archived biological materials such as teeth and hair proved valuable in providing evidence of metabolic health, physiology, and lifestyles of long dead individuals. Thus new noninvasive methods for the analyses of curated archeological specimens could avoid ethical consideration in bioarcheological investigations (C. Qualls and O. Appenzeller). Computational methods could also predict the physical appearance, mood, and clinical diagnosis such as hirsutism (excessive hair growth) also known in some individuals as Cantu syndrome (C. Qualls et al.). Recent massive sequencing of ancient DNA has transformed the study of human evolution and human history. Such studies are only now beginning in bioarcheology but important insights into modern diseases are likely to be gleaned from analyses of bioarcheological specimens.

A collection of 75 modern skeletons from the Philippines has recently been created, and is being housed at the Archaeological Studies Program of the University of the Philippines, Diliman, Philippines. All individuals lived during the 20th century, and almost all died within the 21st century. These individuals were accessioned from exhumed and abandoned tombs at the Manila North Cemetery, and most have documented age and sex from tombstone inscriptions. This paper describes the first season of recovery and the collection's current demographic composition, with the future addition of more individuals to the collection expected to follow. The Philippines has an immediate need for forensic resources given its large vulnerable population, widespread diaspora, and exposure to natural disasters. Having a collection of modern Filipinos available for study is critical to the advancement of forensic anthropology and skeletal biology, especially for this heavily understudied population and region of the world.