Preface: Commingled Remains Special Issue

Abstract

This special issue of Forensic Anthropology is another contribution to a growing literature aimed at solving what may be the most vexing problem in human identification: large-scale commingling of human remains. The contributors to this issue provide us with new ideas concerning methodological approaches, as well as insights emerging from the successful resolution of some of the world’s most difficult identification problems. While the applications center on anthropology, the lessons are more broadly applicable to current-day disasters in which large numbers of fragmented remains must be identified. The central theme running throughout this special issue is that no single discipline is the answer to the problem. Complex cases require sophisticated solutions.