Witnesses from the Grave: The Stories Bones Tell

Forensic anthropology is a relatively new science of identifying the nameless dead solely on the basis of their bones. Tracing the career of one of the field's foremost practitioners, Texan Clyde Snow, Joyce, an editor of New Scientist , and Stover, of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, here present a history of the discipline and explain its techniques. Among Snow's cases are those of Nazi doctor Josef Mengele, who reportedly drowned in Brazil; General Custer, whose remains were supposedly transferred to West Point but are probably still in Montana, according to the authors; and many of the ``disappeared'' murdered by the military regimes in Argentina. Those interested in archeology, anthropology, the history of science and criminal investigation will find this study of the ``archivists of death'' vastly interesting and awe-inspiring. Photos not seen by PW. (Jan.)