Forensic Archaeology - Methods

Methods

Forensic archaeologists are field archaeologists employing a high degree of skill, knowledge and experience in field craft and technological methods to help locate, recover and interpret buried objects/evidence. The technological methods employed include geophysical prospecting, aerial photography, satellite imagery, surveying and excavation.

When dealing with human remains the traditional disciplines associated with archaeology can also be of benefit to an investigation and the study of osteoarchaeology (the archaeological study of the skeleton). This has led, in the UK, to the adoption of the US field of study of forensic anthropology, which uses the human skeletal remains to help determine the age, sex, height, manner of death etc. of an individual. The addition of techniques from palaeopathology (the study of human skeletal remains to understand the health of individuals in the past) to forensic anthropology has allowed the examination of injuries prior to (ante-mortem), around (peri-mortem), and after (post-mortem) the time of death of a victim as well as helping identify individuals from their medical records.

Prior to the development of forensic archaeology in the mid 1990s, it was more common for police to dig out a grave hurriedly in pursuit of the body without looking more closely at its archaeological context. The use of 1-m grids often led to a confused evidential record with items found in the soil from a grave being associated with several grid numbers instead of labeling the grave soil & body (a context number) and associating items found in the grave (evidence) with that label.

As well as being used in individual criminal cases, forensic archaeologists have been employed by international organizations such as the UN to excavate war crime or genocide graves at several sites in the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda and Iraq. There is also a role in the developing area of Disaster Victim Identification (DVI), where archaeological approaches to large disaster scenes may help with both the correct identification of bodies or body parts and also any later police or other authorities investigation (e.g., terrorist attacks, plane crashes).

In the United Kingdom forensic archaeology is regulated by the professional body for archaeologists, The Institute for Archaeologists (formerly the Institute of Field Archaeologists) following a recommendation by the Forensic Regulator, Andrew Rennison.