Article

Guidelines to the standards for recording human remains

IPA Paper n°7
Author
Institute of Field Archaeologists (IFA), British Association for Biological Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology (BABAO)
Publication Year
2004
Region
Global
Thematic Area
Technology & Data / Forensics
Topic
Management of the Dead
Access
Open access

This document is primarily aimed at those engaged in the recording of human bone from commercial projects. Recording undertaken to answer questions relating to specific areas of research pertaining to a site (eg obstetrics and parturition at Christchurch Spitalfields; Molleson and Cox 1993) will require greater detail than is outlined in this document. Research carried out as part of specific projects above and beyond the general site report will also be more detailed. It is not the intention to preclude wider research, indeed it may only be through such work that specific archaeological questions can be answered or knowledge of past populations increased. It is also recognised that due to the rapidly changing field of research into human skeletal remains that this document will have a limited lifespan (probably in the region of ten to fifteen years).