![]() ![]() Odd human remains, the authors tell us, frequently are found by beer drinkers beside the road, by hunters, and by dogs out looking for bones. The Smithsonian has built up a statistical data bank on bones that often can lead from a mere handful of recovered bone pieces to an amazingly on-target identification by age, sex, race, occupation, and the nature and time of death. Police around the country, and the FBI, often call on Ubelaker for help in identifying remains and in determining the types of injury that may have contributed to a victim's death. His bone bank at the Smithsonian consists of the remains of 30,000 people, all catalogued by physical characteristics, and is the one of the planet's largest gatherings of human bones. ![]() Ubelaker seemingly has seen more human remains than any other living person. Bullet, stab, and hatchet wounds abound in this super-serious memoir/essay about police science-but Ubelaker (Curator of Anthropology/Smithsonian Institution) and Scammell (Mortal Remains, 1991) avoid sensationalism in discussing their gruesome subject, and give a close, often technical look at how skeletal remains aid in solving mysteries. ![]()
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