Skeletonization
[2] In a temperate climate, it usually requires three weeks to several years for a body to completely decompose into a skeleton, depending on factors such as temperature, humidity, presence of insects, and submergence in a substrate such as water.
Alternately, especially in very fine, dry, salty, anoxic, or mildly alkaline soils, bones may undergo fossilization, converting into minerals that may persist indefinitely.
[7] Scanning electron microscopy and energy- dispersive X- ray spectroscopy are used to examine the chemical composition of any materials that are suspected to be bones.
The results of the chemical composition test will be compared with the bone specimens of a FBI's database named Spectral Library for Identification.
[7] Given that the microscopic pattern of nonhuman bones is plexiform or fibrolamellar if the primary osteon has the linear arrangement of rows or bands,[7] analysing the microscopic anatomy of large mammalian bone fragments enables the forensic anthropologists to distinguish large mammals.
[9] The place of burial, physical characteristics and artefacts next to the skeletal remains will be taken into consideration to determine its forensic significance.
[12] Consequently, males have stronger mastoid processes on the sides, with nuchal crests and glabellae located in the front and the back respectively.
[13] The quality of nutrition that the deceased specimen had in its lifetime will affect the size and resiliency of its bones, so this analysis cannot be considered entirely definitive in assigning sex to a skeleton.
[14] Analysing trauma provides insight in detecting and explaining the lesions on the deceased individual or a respective population.
[14] Trauma analysis is conducted with the cooperation between forensic pathologists and anthropologists to establish the reason and manner of death.
[15] While peri- and post- mortem trauma that occurred simultaneously cannot provide hints for forensic pathologists and anthropologists, post- mortem trauma that occurred after the decomposition stage reveals the distinction between damage inflicted on dried and de- fleshed bones.
[16] Hence, the range format is written in the aim of combining the estimation of the skeleton's chronological age and individual variability.
[19] Applying the same case for animal skeletons, there are procedures to follow in the aim of ensuring the skeletal remains are reserved carefully for research purposes in the future.
[19] However, larger collections are served for academic disciplines that need a broad investigation instead of just focusing on a single piece of bone.
[22] An ethical dilemma exists when forensic anthropologists and mortuary archaeologists need to adapt to the cultural context that they are working in respectively while obliged to uphold objectivity when they are engaging in skeletal analysis.
[22] Both forensic anthropologists and mortuary archaeologists should not enable the working conditions of a particular environment justifying their standard of investigation process.
