Macroscopic determination of the pre-burning condition of human remains recovered from an unusual forensic context: A case report

Interpol review of fire debris analysis and fire investigation 2019–2022

“…Monetti et al shared a case of human remains found in a cemetery that had distinctive burn patterns on the bones, which were inconsistent with the position of the remains during the fire event [ 122 ]. Anthropologists that examined the remains determined that the bones were burned after they were skeletonized, likely as a result of a ritual.…”

The effects of exogenous substances on the color of heated bones

“…Specifically, heat-induced color alterations in bone have been used in the anthropological analysis since the 19th century (Bemis, 1850), at least, to aid in the determination of the position of a body during the burning process, the maximum temperature it was exposed to (Devlin & Herrmann, 2015;Egeland & Pickering, 2020;Mamede et al, 2018;Mayne Correia, 1997;McKinley, 2015;Rosa et al, 2023;Shipman et al, 1984;Thompson, 2004Thompson, , 2005Ubelaker, 2009) and to determine the possibility to obtain DNA from a burned bone sample (Fredericks et al, 2015;Mckinnon et al, 2021). Nevertheless, it may be further explored to assess its potential to determine the pre-burning conditions of the skeletal remains and the circumstances of heat-exposure (Gonçalves et al, 2011;Gonçalves et al, 2015;Lemmers et al, 2020;Mayne Correia, 1997;Monetti et al, 2021;Thompson, 2005Thompson, , 2016Ubelaker, 2009).…”