A Companion to Forensic Anthropology presents the most comprehensive assessment of the philosophy, goals, and practice of forensic anthropology currently available, with chapters by renowned international scholars and experts.

• Highlights the latest advances in forensic anthropology research, as well as the most effective practices and techniques used by professional forensic anthropologists in the field
• Illustrates the development of skeletal biological profiles and offers important new evidence on statistical validation of these analytical methods.
• Evaluates the goals and methods of forensic archaeology, including the preservation of context at surface-scattered remains, buried bodies and fatal fire scenes, and recovery and identification issues related to large-scale mass disaster scenes and mass grave excavation.

The Editor

Dennis C. Dirkmaat, PhD, is the Chair of both the undergraduate program in Applied Forensic Sciences and the Masters of Science in Anthropology at Mercyhurst College, Erie, PA. He is a board-certified forensic anthropologist, with a specialty in forensic archaeology, who has conducted hundreds of forensic anthropology cases nationally and internationally. He has been a member of the US federal government's Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team (DMORT) since its inception in the mid-1990s, and is co-chair of the Scene Search and Recovery, and Anthropology Subcommittees of the Scientific Working Group on Disaster Victim Identification (SWGDVI), US National Institute of Justice (NIJ). He also serves as a consultant for international organizations and companies involved in the recovery and identification of victims of mass disaster events around the world.