This is the final installment of the series on forensic Osteology. In the last two articles I discussed the first four of five questions a forensic osteologist may be asked to answer. These were: 1) Are the remains Human? 2) How long has this person been dead? 3) How many individuals are associated with the sit of the remains? 4) What was the age, sex, height and racial affiliation of the person in question?
The final question to be addressed by the forensic osteologist is 5) Are there pathological conditions in the form of evidence of disease that might aid the osteologist in identification of an individual. This can be done in several ways. There are some diseases that would cause profound disability and would be evident in the living individual. Other diseases that leave there mark on bone are more subtle but are specific to certain geographical regions. This in turn can indicate race.
