Written in Bones: How Human Remains Unlock the Secrets of the Dead

-- Canadian Society of Forensic Science

An excellent survey of the postmortem identification and interpretation of human remains.

-- Science Books and Films

Human remains have much to tell us about how our ancestors lived and died, what they believed, and the rituals that were important to them. In Written in Bones, a team of international forensic anthropologists and archaeologists examines important case studies of human remains found at archeological sites around the world. Comprehensive text and color photographs describe how the remains were analyzed using modern scientific techniques and how the data were assembled to create authentic pictures of ancient cultures.

The book is organized in five chapters: A Way of Life, Natural Deaths, Deliberate Deaths, Burials, and Mummies and Mummification.

Some of the astonishing discoveries covered are: A Han Dynasty aristocrat preserved in an unknown red liquidBog bodies in EuropeThe riddle of Tomb KV55, where a male body was found inside a female coffinThe headless men and giant wolves of a Mesolithic cemetery in Siberia

The seven new cases in this revised edition include: The Silk Road MummiesEarly European FarmersMummies and Modern MedicineInfant Deaths in a Roman brothel

Called grisly, gross and utterly compelling, Written in Bones is used as a text in archaeology and anthropology courses around the world. It is sure to find an audience among a wide variety of readers.