Forensic Osteological Analysis: A Book of Case Studies (review)

Forensic Osteological Analysis: A Book of Case Studies, edited by Scott I. Fairgrieve. Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas Publisher, Ltd., 1999. 340 pp. $69.95 (hardcover).

Forensic Osteology is targeted at forensic anthropology/osteology students who have a background in human osteology and/or anatomy. In addition to the editor's introductory overview, there are 19 chapters, each of which underwent peer review. Every contribution has at least one case study as a highlight to the basics and principles that are covered. One chapter is reprinted from a referred journal.

A major reason for the compilation is the considerable time since the 1984 publication of Rathbun and Buikstra's Human Identification, which was the inaugural edited volume of forensic anthropology case studies. As Scott Fairgrieve notes in his introductory chapter to Forensic Osteology, many new developments in forensic anthropology have taken place in the ensuing 15 years. A stated goal of his volume is that the contributions contain "background information on how osteological analysis is applied to human/faunal remains found in legal contexts." Most of the chapters are based on cases from Canada and authored by professionals and students affiliated with Canadian universities and forensic science institutions, so as to give non-Canadian colleagues a feel for the types of cases encountered in Canada.

By way of basic comparison with Rathbun and Buikstra, Forensic Osteology is shorter by about 100 pages and has 10 fewer chapters. While Rathbun and Buikstra is broken into five sections, each with a general introduction, Forensic Osteology's chapters are arranged by "prevailing theme"; chapters about related topics are "grouped together," but related chapters are not segregated into distinct sections. Each section of Rathbun and Buikstra has an editorial introduction/overview; in Forensic Osteology, the editor offers a single, brief summary/overview introductory chapter.

Continuing the comparison, many of the topical foci of specific contributions in the two volumes are similar, if not identical. Moreover, both books cover a very wide gamut of topics pertinent to forensic anthropology, including such subjects as historical personages/circumstances, mass disasters, and field techniques, to name a few.

Some significant inclusions to Forensic Osteology not treated in any detail in Rathbun and Buikstra include mass disasters, human rights cases, forensic entomology, and DNA in a forensic context. However, Rathbun and Buikstra has specific contributions devoted to aging techniques applied to cases, and to what in 1984 was usually referred to as race, but today is more often known by such other descriptors as population affiliation or genetic ancestry. Indeed, the index to Forensic Osteology has approximately the same number of page references for strangulation as a category as it does for age and "race" together, about a dozen. Rathbun and Buikstra contains index reference to more than 80 pages devoted to age and "race." These exclusions are also noteworthy in that there are three contributions that deal specifically with cremains in Forensic Osteology. The attributes of age and "race" are almost invariably among the most important challenges to confront a forensic osteologist/anthropologist working on a case, while cremains, in this reviewer's experience, are infrequently encountered by practicing professionals.

I found six of the chapters to merit special comment, although every one has information of worth and/or interest. The contribution by Meikeljohn and his colleagues is an interesting piece on the positive identification of human remains using biomechanical and DNA techniques. Skinner presents some sound practical advice with respect to expert witnessing, and Spense's chapter does the same regarding the details of crime scene methodology. Saunders and Yang offer a good summary of the problems of sex determination using DNA. Pollanen gives a detailed treatment of the osteology and anatomy of strangulation; Anderson contributes a nice basic overview of forensic entomology using a number of different cases.

There are an inordinate number of various kinds of errors, "typos" of one sort or another, and the index is, for my taste, too general. For example, there...