This unique reference provides a primary source for osteologists and the medical/legal community for the understanding of burned bone remains in forensic or archaeological contexts. It describes in detail the changes in human bone and soft tissues as a body burns at both the chemical and gross levels and provides an overview of the current procedures in burned bone study. Case studies in forensic and archaeological settings aid those interested in the analysis of burned human bodies, from death scene investigators, to biological anthropologists looking at the recent or ancient dead. - Includes the diagnostic patterning of color changes that give insight to the severity of burning, the positioning of the body, and presence (or absence) of soft tissues during the burning event - Chapters on bones and teeth give step-by-step recommendations for how to study and recognize burned hard tissues

This volume offers students and researchers a range of papers that deliberately question some of the traditional views associated with the role of fire. In the past, fire and the hearth usually represented a means of cooking, heat and illumination. Moreover, the evidence of fire and its functionality was relegated to the miscellaneous sections of the archaeological literature. However, it is clear form this volume that the role of fire extends beyond a mere functional one. Fire is meaningful, powerful and supernatural and was integral to the successful development of past societies.