Forensics Journal - Stevenson University 2011 | Page 36

STEVENSON UNIVERSITY

There are a handful of vaults in the Congressional Cemetery that
are undergoing renovation. Built in the 19th century, many of these
vaults are in need of restoration and repair. The mortar has weakened in between the bricks and ground erosion is occurring. Prior to
commencing the renovation process, all human skeletal remains must
be removed from the vaults, so as not to damage the aging, fragile
remains.

Methodology
The skeletal and dental analyses of individuals from the Richards
family vault were conducted in a manner consistent with the normal
procedures used by Dr. Owsley and his team for analyzing historical remains. The protocols for analyzing each set of skeletal remains
include an inventory of the bones present and their condition, teeth
present and their condition (including taphonomic changes), and the
stages and planes of dental wear. The skeletal and dental inventories
were documented using the format created by Dr. Owsley. This tool
uses a coding system to assign conditions to each bone, such as presence or absence and number of fragments, and allows the analyst to
code dental disease (caries), abscesses, calculus, degree of decomposition, and antemortem tooth loss. The dental wear analysis is based on
stages described by Smith (1984), and planes of wear as determined
by generally accepted anatomical terminology. The skeletal analysis
included determination of pathological conditions, coded using forms
constructed by Dr. Owsley. This record documented and included
generalized pathology caused by infectious processes, osteoarthritis,
fr X