Forensic Science International 109 (2000) 1530 www.elsevier.

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Forensic anthropology in Latin America

a, b M. Yasar Iscan *, Horacio Elbio Solla Olivera ~
a

Adli Tip Enstitusu, PK 10, Istanbul Universitesi, 34303 Cerrahpasa, Istanbul, Turkey b Morgue Judicial, Instituto Tecnico Forense, Montevideo, Uruguay

Received 10 November 1999; received in revised form 22 November 1999; accepted 22 November 1999

Abstract Forensic anthropology has been one of the fastest growing medicolegal disciplines both in its contribution to the practical needs of the legal system and research accomplishments. New anthropological standards were developed to apply to a specic population of a region. The purpose of this paper is to analyze a large sample of anthropological forensic cases and to review pertinent literature that deals with anthropological standards developed for the population of the continent of Central and South America. Using Uruguay as an example, there was not a single ofce or anthropologist assigned to analyze human skeletal remains in Uruguay. In 1991 the Laboratorio de Antropologa Forense at the Morgue Judicial of Montevideo was created. A total of 189 forensic anthropological cases (276 individuals) were analyzed since this date. Twenty six percent of cases involving human remains were positively identied. The majority came from the Departamento de Montevideo, the largest population district of the country. Most of the cases fell into the 60 to 69 years old age range (35%). Females represented 32% of the total. Since the establishment of the laboratory, the number of forensic cases increased considerably from 20 in 1991 to 40 in 1997. The case studies were accompanied with skull-photo superimposition and facial reconstruction when no other evidence for positive identication was available. This service provided by the laboratory was quickly known to coroners, law enforcement agencies, and other legal authorities and thus utilized not only in Uruguay but also in several other countries in the continent. Because of the obvious need for an anthropologist, there are now university programs to provide forensic anthropological education. Yet, research has lagged behind considerably. Deciencies are obvious in basic osteological standards of estimating age, calculating stature, determining sex and assessing race that can be applied to populations of the continent. Regional standards are also needed to estimate postmortem interval, to identify culture specic causes of trauma and other forensic phenomena. Some of these can be remedied if there is a database where

*Corresponding author. Tel.: 190-212-588-0880; fax: 190-212-588-0011. Is E-mail address: iscan@istanbul.edu.tr (M. Yasar ~can) 0379-0738 / 00 / $ see front matter 2000 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S0379-0738( 99 )00213-3

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the available literature is stored and osteometric information is shared. 2000 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Forensic sciences; Forensic anthropology laboratory; Human identication; Uruguay; South America; Central America; Forensic cases studies

1. Introduction Forensic anthropology has been one of the fastest growing disciplines of forensic sciences and its scope has been recently described [1,2]. Its growth in the US has been attributed to scholars such as Wilton M. Krogman and J. Lawrence Angel [3,4]. T. Dale Stewart [5] carried out much of the pioneering research and Krogman dened the eld [6]. Importance of research and practical needs has also been appreciated globally by other forensic anthropologists [7,8]. Growth of the eld has been chronicled for many countries, including China, Hong Kong; Hungary, Japan, South Africa, Turkey, and the US [5,915]. Such regional development has been extremely important especially for those cases where population variation may have created serious problems in identifying a native individual with standards developed for other, distant populations. In the continent of Central and South America (Latin America, collectively), the progress in forensic anthropology and archaeology has been described in several brief reviews [1623]. Perhaps the most comprehensive and the only book on this subject has been written by Rodriguez [24]. This book denes the scope of the discipline and shows that the eld is new in research in the continent. In the practical application of forensic anthropology, not many case studies have appeared in the literature [25,26]. In Uruguay, the medicolegal examination of human remains are assigned to the Instituto Tecnico Forense, Departamento de Medicina Forense that carries out autopsies and related analyses in their own local morgues. Occasionally, difcult cases are sent to the Morgue Judicial of Montevideo City to be autopsied because of its better facilities and resources. The Morgue Judicial also has other forensic scientists representing toxicology and anthropology on staff [27]. Since its establishment in 1991 the Laboratory of Forensic Anthropology has been given complete responsibilities to aid coroners, law enforcement agencies, and legal authorities in the areas of the analysis or identication of unknown human remains [21]. Both criminal and civil cases are referred to the resident forensic anthropologist through either law enforcement agencies or coroners. These remains include skeletonized, decomposed and burned human remains. When positive identication is made, the coroner signs the death certicate based on the ofcial report led by the forensic anthropologist. In other words, the forensic anthropologist is an ofcial consultant to the department of forensic medicine [20]. The purpose of the present paper is to describe the place of forensic anthropology in the medicolegal system using Uruguay cases studies as an example and some of the pertinent research carried out by Central and South American scientists.

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2. Cases studies One way to judge the contribution of a eld is to quantify its practical application. Before 1991 forensic anthropological studies were not given serious consideration in Uruguay. When human remains were discovered they were analyzed by coroners with little training in anthropology. Most examinations were limited to the determination of sex and possible cause of death. Generally these remains could not be positively identied and thus buried as unknown. As a solution to this problem, the Laboratorio de Antropologa Forense was created at the Morgue Judicial of Montevideo City in 1991. Since its establishment as a section of the Morgue Judicial, the number of anthropological cases analyzed have increased from 20 in 1991 to 40 in 1997 (Table 1). A total of 189 forensic anthropology cases totaling 276 individuals have been analyzed during the period from 1991 to 1997. This number excluded 9 fetal remains. The remains came from 10 judicial departments including Montevideo. All reports were examined to estimate age at death, determine sex, geographic location of the recovery site and stage of decomposition (i.e. decomposed, skeletonized and burned), as well as, whether or not a positive identication was made. Of the 189 cases, not surprisingly, the majority (60% or 114 individuals) originated from the Departamento of Montevideo (largest district of the 19 departments), concentrating 48% (1.6 million) of Uruguays total population (Table 1) [28]. In other Departamentos, the total number of anthropological cases also increased considerably. Of all cases, 13 (7%) involved domestic and wild animal skeletal remains belonging to dogs, cats, cows, pigs and deer (Table 1). This percentage

Table 1 Distribution of forensic anthropological cases in Uruguay by its preservation, location and positive identication rate in Uruguay
Cases 1991 N Skeletonized Burned Decomposed Fresh Non-human Total human Total cases Location of cases Montevideo Other depts Total cases Positive ID 13 7 20 5 65 35 100 26 9 5 14 4 64 36 100 31 18 9 27 4 67 33 100 16 13 9 22 3 59 41 100 15 10 10 20 7 50 50 100 35 28 18 46 12 61 39 100 28 23 17 40 11 58 43 100 31 114 75 189 46 60 40 100 26 12 2 5 0 1 19 20 % 60 10 25 0 5 95 100 1992 N 8 4 0 1 1 13 14 % 57 29 0 7 7 93 100 1993 N 16 2 7 0 2 25 27 % 59 7 26 0 7 93 100 1994 N 16 1 2 1 2 20 22 % 73 5 9 5 9 91 100 1995 N 18 0 2 0 0 20 20 % 90 0 10 0 0 100 100 1996 N 24 4 11 4 3 43 46 % 52 9 24 9 7 93 100 1997 N 28 1 5 2 4 36 40 % 70 3 13 5 10 90 100 Total N 122 14 32 8 13 176 189 % 65 7 17 4 7 93 100

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was less than those reported in the State of Tennessee of USA [29,30]. Most of the human remains were found in woods, elds, parks, along rivers and lakes by the police or civilians. There were others recovered from locations like burned cars, septic tanks, highways, construction sites and abandoned houses. The percentage of skeletal, decomposed, fresh and burned remains per year is shown in Table 1. Of the human remains (N5176), 122 or 67% were skeletonized cases. Only a very few (8 cases or 4%) of the remains without advanced decomposition were brought to the attention of the resident forensic anthropologist. The age and sex distributions are presented in Table 2. Decade peak was between 60 and 69 years old representing 97 individuals or 35% of all cases. A similar percentage was also given for the Uruguays demographic composition [28]. Although historically many physical anthropologists have taken a very cautious view of the accuracy of age determination using cranial suture closure pattern (e.g., [3135], it must be noted that Solla [36] obtained very good results to estimate age using his own method on the ectocranial suture closure supplemented by other techniques described and developed on ribs, pubic symphysis, and auricular surface together [3741]. Although females make up approximately half of Uruguays population, they are fewer (34%) in the forensic sample (Table 2). As anticipated, males have always outnumbered females. This number was twofold or more in later years. Unfortunately, there is not any national crime statistics to compare the sex ratio of the victims. None of the 176 cases involving human remains were known before they were brought to the Morgue Judicial. Percentage of cases in which positive identications

Table 2 Age and sex distribution of individuals in Uruguay Age interval 09 1019 2029 3039 4049 5059 6069 7079 8089 Total Sex Male % Female % Total 23 59 16 41 39 9 60 6 40 15 36 69 16 31 52 24 69 11 31 35 18 55 15 45 33 48 81 11 19 59 31 72 12 28 43 189 87 276 68 32 100 1991 2 0 0 2 2 9 11 6 7 39 1992 1 0 0 2 3 4 2 3 0 15 1993 0 0 1 3 7 11 17 12 1 52 1994 3 0 0 3 3 1 12 8 5 35 1995 0 0 0 1 1 7 13 7 4 33 1996 1 2 1 0 8 6 24 15 2 59 1997 2 0 1 2 7 11 18 2 0 43 Total 9 2 3 13 31 49 97 53 19 276 % 3 1 1 5 11 18 35 19 7 100

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were made is shown in Table 1. Positive identication was made in 26% (N546) during these seven year duration. This gure is comparable to those provided by others [29,30]. Facial image analysis has been of interest for forensic anthropologists for some time [6,42]. Reconstruction of the face from the skull and electronic superimposition of a photograph on a skull have been attempted frequently, especially in Uruguay. Reconstruction was followed according to the method recommended by Krogman and ~can Is [6]. Tissue thicknesses were used from both European and American studies [6,43,44]. Identication was made for 3 out of 5 reconstructions from 1991 to 1995. Fig. 1 shows a reconstruction case which lead to the identication of an 80-year-old victim. While this reconstruction shows a good resemblance, problem areas include estimation of the mouth width and lip thickness among others. Of course hair and eye color and form remain still a guesstimate unless there is knowledge about whether the person is of a northern or southern European, or black descent. Skull-photo superimposition has been employed in a number of well known cases such as the identication of Joseph Mengele [45] and its principles are described in the literature [42,46]. In Latin America, the same technique has been used to identify remains or to corroborate with other evidence. In Uruguay alone 30 cases have been analyzed, 16 of which were positively identied in the last 7 years. The many technical difculties that forensic scientists [47] of the early 20th century faced are no longer a major problem. In Uruguayan cases, the basic apparatus consists of a video camera, video recorder, high resolution monitor, digital video mixer, character generator, tripod for video camera and photo stand. Photographs can also be obtained by digital video capture using commercially available graphic software. The whole procedure should not take more than an hour. Fig. 1 also shows an example of a sequence of superimposition process of a skull on a picture made by the senior author. One of the aims of forensic casework is to establish positive identication of the victim. The rate of identication mentioned above depends on a number of problems in Uruguay. First, law enforcement agencies may not be knowledgeable about which data are relevant to obtain a positive identication from skeletal remains. Second, positive identication may be very difcult when no missing people are reported to the police. Factors of individualization is the process whereby a set of unique skeletal characteristics is matched with those of a missing person [6]. Therefore, a positive identication could not be established when there is no comparative individual. Third, as in many less afuent countries dental and health records are rarely kept for a long period of time. Dental records are particularly difcult to obtain in Uruguay as well as many other countries in Latin America. Dental health is poor and minimally maintained for the majority of the people because of its extreme expense. To this one can add that very few dentists maintain odontological records of their patients. One of the recent advocations in forensic anthropology is the crime scene investigation and recovery of remains. A well organized anthropological (archaeological) technique is extremely important in this regard [6,4851]. An understanding of local domestic and wild animals and their effects on human remains may provide important clues about death and provides an opportunity to reconstruct the sequence of events surrounding (perimortem) and following (postmortem) death [52]. Unfortunately these techniques are rarely used in Uruguay.

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Fig. 1. Top row: An example of facial reconstruction of a black female. It is the actual photograph of the victim who was identied from the reconstruction. The victim was 80 years old at the time of death. Middle and lower rows: An example of electronic superimposition used in establishing identication.

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3. Research The forensic anthropological contribution to the medicolegal system has increased considerably in the last 78 years, at least, in Uruguay. The number of cases identied increased to a level obtained in some other more technologically advanced countries. There remains some concerns that must be addressed by anthropologists of the continent. They mainly stem from the fact that research standards used in many of the anthropological cases are based on other populations. As has been shown in anthropological literature for the last century or so, the human species is highly varied and this variation effects identication. Human skeletal variation has not been properly assessed for the population of this large region. Also, not known is whether osteological standards developed for other populations can be applied to the skeletal remains of the region. The survey of the literature shows deciencies in basic osteological standards including race, sex, age, and body size. To this can be added others such as the assessment of antemortem and postmortem trauma, bone pathology, and antemortem health signs. Finally, it is also difcult to know what has been published not only for someone outside the continent but also the native scientist. Recent organizations and journals like Boletn de la Sociedad Espanola de Antropologa Biologica, Antropologa Biologica: Revista Internacional de Biologa de Poblaciones (Organo Ocial de la Asociacion Latinoamericana de Antropologa Biologica) and Maguare are useful. Yet the distribution of them is limited and they are difcult to nd outside of that country. Population mixture among American Indians, Europeans and Africans has been going on for sometime in Latin America [5356]. In general it has been proposed that the current population is a result of conguraciones historico culturales and composed of three groups [53,57]. According to Ribeiro [53], these are: (1) Indians (namely, Pueblos Testimonio) forming the actual populations of Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Paraguay, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Mexico; (2) Blacks (namely Pueblos Nuevos) who live primarily in Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Panama and Caribbean countries; and (3) Whites (i.e., Pueblos Transplantados) who are the primary residents of Argentina and Uruguay. In the case of Argentina and Uruguay, the race issue is not very relevant. For example, in Uruguay, there were about 5,000 Indians before the Spanish contact [58]. They were extinct by the early part of the 18th century [59]. The rst black population was brought to Uruguay in 1680 by the Portuguese as slaves from Africa to the Colonia del Sacramento. They formed about 1 / 3 of the population in Montevideo in the early part of the last century [60]. Through time, the white immigration increased celerity from about 40,000 in 1825 to 420,000 in 1872. The population of the country increased to nearly a million as the migration from Europe increased from about 1900 through 1930 [61]. This mass migration changed the initial racial mixture from a conguracion historico cultural of pueblo Nuevo to that of pueblo Transplantado [53]. Today, Argentina and Uruguay are considered as a sui-generis in comparison with other Latin American countries. The situation is more complex for the countries with ongoing mixture among the three major groups. As of today, osteological differences between them has not been analyzed. ~can and Steyn [62] demonstrated that blacks and whites of Is South Africa differ from those of North America and require a different craniometric race determination technique. Therefore it may be safe to assume that Latin Americans

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are also different from others in their skeletal biological characteristics. There have however been attempts in this area. Toribio [63] investigated dental size differences in Cuban whites and blacks. Henke [64] analyzed craniometric race differences among various populations including Peruvians. Studies on sex differences are better known. Genoves [65,66] provides an excellent assessment of metric and morphological variation in the pelvis among Mexicans. His accuracy was as high as 95% when metric dimensions were analyzed around the sciatic notch, acetabulum and pubis as well as the notch shape and pubic crest. The scapula was also analyzed using 11 dimensions and exhibited considerable sex difference [67]. A study on sexual difference in Argentineans was assessed using the foramen magnum breadth and length [68]. While it is not the most dimorphic part of the skull, the author designed the project so that a medical examiner can make a preliminary judgement. As the use of discriminant function analysis became more common in anthropology, its application to skeletal remains was also carried out. Based on 25 dimensions, a sample of Cuban European tali and calcanea provided a sex determination accuracy of 96% when several dimensions from the two bones were combined [69]. Accuracy dropped minimally to 92% when the bones are used individually. Morales and associates [70] also attempted anthropometric sex differences in Colombians. Metric and morphological aspects of sex differences in the skull have not been investigated in Latin America. It also is not known if North American osteological standards can be applied to South Americans. However it was shown in a study, South African whites and blacks differ sexually from North Americans in their cranial dimensions [71]. Fig. 2 shows male and female (facial and prole views) skulls. While the specimens are of forensic origin and not selected to show any specic sexual dimorphism, differences between them are clearly observable. Estimation of stature is one of the few areas attempted by the Latin American anthropologists. The pioneering work was on a mixed sample of Mexico [72,73] and reprinted by Krogman and ~can with the errata corrected [6]. This cadaver based study Is used a sample of 176 males and 59 females of mixed origin [73]. Stature estimation is one of the most difcult aspects of forensic anthropology because there are not many skeletal collections with documented body height and other demographic information. Techniques to estimate age from teeth and skeletons have been known for some time [74]. However, population specic standards are few for Latin Americans. Dental eruption age is well known around the world. Both deciduous and permanent dentition have been reported for the children of, for example, Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, Peru [7578]. Fig. 3 shows two forensic cases of 3 year and 5 year children from Uruguay. Dental wear pattern (occlusal and interproximal attrition, dentine exposure, development of helicoidal plane, crown height) was analyzed for a native population of Paraguay [79]. Cranial suture closure which is one of the oldest techniques was carried out by a number of researchers [32,33] and tested on forensic cases [36]. Cattaneo [32] was a pioneer using the suture closure to estimate age from an Argentinean sample (N5100) and gave the early indicator that it is only a rough estimator of age. A similar study was carried out on Mexicans (N547 indigenas; 53 Mestizos). Both studies reached the conclusion that the sutures do not show closure pattern that can give a precise age estimation. The same conclusion was also reached by many later studies. In Uruguay,

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Fig. 2. Full and prole views of Uruguayan male (left column) and female (right column) skulls. Male skulls are from different individuals and females of the same individual.

Solla [36] studied 25 male and 11 female adult skulls to develop a new approach to estimate age from the ectocranial suture closure pattern. Using the traditional 0 (open) to 5 (closed) scale, obliteration is ranked for coronal (3 parts, 2 sides), sagittal (4 parts), lambdoid (3 parts, 2 sides), squamosal (1 part, 2 sides), and sphenooccipital synchondrosis (1 part) which total to a maximum score of 95. Pearsons correlation coefcient of 0.80 indicated there was a statistically signicant relationship between the suture closure pattern and age. A regression equation, Y 5 0.950468X 2 2.63467 is developed where X refers to the total score which ranged from 25 to 95 in the sample. He found no racial and sexual differences in the timing of closure. Using the osteological collection of the Medicolegal Institute of Havana, Cuban investigators used the medullary canal of 45 male and 49 female humeri [41]. They made a sagittal section on the upper third of the bone to determine how much the medullary cavity was advancing into the epiphyseal region. They found a high correlation (r50.78) with age. A test of the medullary canal expansion and cranial suture closure time on Uruguay

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Fig. 3. Top row: Maxillary dentition of a 3-year-old girl (left) and the skeleton of a 5-year-old boy (right). Bottom left: A mummied head from a beach in the Rocha Departamento (Uruguay). Remains were discovered 13 months after the disappearance of the victim. The victim disappeared in November (i.e. Spring) and was found in December (Summer) of the following year. The victim was later identied by both the skull-photo overlay and dental chart. The slowness of decomposition was due to the fact that the remains were in a cofn. Bottom right: Fracture of the transverse process of the axis due to hanging.

cases seemed to prove a reliable estimate. Their estimation accuracy also parallels those ndings on Americans and Europeans [80]. Other more specialized studies may provide information about particular cases. These include, for example, DNA from bony and desiccated soft tissues [81,82], sinus pattern [83], and time since death [84,85]. Reports by Equipo Argentino de Antropologa Forense also share experiences of dealing with the victims of an Argentinean dictatorial regime [23]. Estimation of time since death is a highly complex matter and requires not only technical development but also an understanding of the climate and terrain [86]. Latin America is particularly unique because a substantial part of its location is in a primarily tropical environment. Fig. 3 exemplies a case where facial skin is completely

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mummied in 13 months. Yet other tissues remained more intact probably because the remains were in a cofn even though the victim disappeared in November (Spring) and was found in December (Summer) of the following year. This can be considered a slow decomposition process even though a full year passed since death. If, however, other factors such as scavenging animals were around, the remains could have been both destroyed and thus quickly decomposed [52]. Another important aspect of forensic research is determination of trauma and its cause. There are numerous studies dealing with antemortem skeletal problems, cause of death and cultural factors [8789]. Fig. 3 also shows a fracture of the axis of a victim as a result of hanging. Many internationally known case studies have involved events and persons of Latin America. These include mass suicide in Jonestown, Guyana [90], identication of Joseph Mengele [45,81,9194], and Francisco Pizarro of the 16th century [95]. Personal identication of human remains who were victimized by human rights abuse are among the most recognized service anthropologists have provided [9698]. The teams purpose was to identify and determine the cause of death of individuals who were thought to have been killed during the dictatorial regime in 19761983 [9698]. They utilized, basically, the DNA ngerprints and dental records for identication. Although few, other case studies covered local events. Basauri [25] identied burned remains of a young female who was found in a corn eld near Lima, Peru. He used the classic method of photographic superimposition [47] together with dental records to identify the remains. The skeletal remains of 14 victims in Ecuador [26] and of 70 females (1225 years) murdered by serial murderer Camargo Barbosa in the cities of Quito and Guayaquil were among the major concerns of the local community. The classic photographic superimposition together with the available dental records played an important role in the identication of these cases. As in many countries, pathologists obtain their basic osteological education in a medical school or during their residency. Training and practice of forensic anthropology have taken a different direction in recent years. For example, in many countries, forensic anthropology is an integral part of the medical education and specialization. Therefore, it grew within the framework of medical sciences, including anatomy [13,15,99]. In others, it is through the eld of anthropology [1]. Education in forensic anthropology has not been formalized in Uruguay and in this regard it is similar to the US where only one or two schools provide a graduate degree in this eld. In Uruguay, for example, it is basically a university degree in anthropology and followed by an M.A. specializing in physical anthropology. It is at this stage that a student may choose forensic anthropology as his / her specialty. Certainly increased specialization in osteology would open up new research ideas and population specic techniques that can be applied to the skeletal population of the region. In Central and South America, the practice of forensic anthropology is still mostly in the hands of pathologists. The exception is the foundation of Equipo Argentino de Antropologa Forense (EAAF) which grew out of anthropological elds. In a review of biological anthropology in Colombia and Latin America, one can see that the forensic branch is in its infancy [100]. Yet Colombian anthropologists have also been showing considerable research activities in getting forensic anthropology to be an integral part of the medical examining system [101,102].

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4. Discussion Forensic anthropology has become an integral part of the medicolegal disciplines and its investigative branch all around the world. Some of its scientic contribution to identify human remains and solve crime have been written up in the literature by many scientists. It has been shown that participation of a trained forensic anthropologist can contribute considerably to the speedy identication of unknown cases and resolution of the crime. Forensic anthropological activity in Latin America is not well known and limited to several studies. This paper shows that using Uruguay as an example, the number of cases that have received expert evaluation have risen annually more than twice in the last seven years. This is probably because of the establishment of a forensic anthropology laboratory in the medical examiners complex. Without a doubt, this increase in case studies can be attributed to the familiarity of the service this new eld can offer to law enforcement agencies and coroners. The location of the laboratory at the Morgue Judicial of Montevideo gave an opportunity to medicolegal ofces to have an easy access to this service. The rate of positive identication has also improved considerably and comparable to other statistics in the US, probably because the crime scenes as well as records obtained from the eld are better detailed for comparative purpose. While it is not an easy task to investigate thoroughly the literature of the entire region, forensic anthropological research is rare in Central and South America. Much of the research has been carried out in the last decade or so. While there are several papers on the scope of anthropology, many of these use the old literature [103]. The turn of the century French research has still considerable inuence at least on Uruguayan forensic scientists. Some pathologists use, for example, Rollets 1888 stature formula [104]. Nevertheless research in forensic anthropology is growing rapidly in almost all the countries and its scope is well known to many medical examiners as well. Yet osteological standards that can be applied to the diverse people of the region are very few in number. So far, research standards based on North American and European populations are being tested on the forensic cases of Latin America [23]. Another matter that complicates the issue is the difculty of nding forensic scientic journals and publications. It is understandable that it is an economic hardship to maintain unsubsidized journals or to publish books. Many research papers are not widely distributed and if so there is nothing more than the proceedings of a meeting or a monograph of a university. There is an urgent need for a clearing house or an electronic center to search and locate literature. Electronic resources in forensic sciences can be seen on many web sites (e.g., http: / / www.up.ac.za / academic / medicine / resources / forensics.htm; http: / / zeno.simplenet.com / forensic.html http: / / haven.ios.com / |nyrc / homepage.html) and described in several papers [105,106]. Cooperation with other scientists is also essential. Anthropologists should attend forensic meetings to present their research ndings and organize workshops for pathologists, dentists and even for law enforcement agents. Such a relationship increases not only the research potential but also case studies. The inclusion of an anthropologist in the medicolegal investigation team can provide an expert opinion about skeletonized and burned remains. It is highly urgent that standards for Latin American populations

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should be developed collectively so that the analysis of human remains can be more reliable.

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