Human influence is also important to keep in mind
.
Trauma can be the indicator of a fall
or violence that happened to the person in their life or right before death
.
As stated in
Formulating Research Projects Involving Human Remains
it is now mandatory that
bioarcheologists take seriously the legal and ethical issues at every step of the process involving
research and human remains
.
The legal aspects will involve seeking official permission to carry
out a study
.
Permission could be anything from writing a proposal that a tribal entity will review
to filling out a form and having a museum representative approve it (Martin 2013:57-92)
.
The role of bioarcheologist isn’t held to one singular role, they play numerous parts in the
recovery and analysis of human remains
.
Having a bioarcheologist from the onset of an
excavation can be very helpful for finding cultural, ethnic, and biological affinity
.
Bioarcheologists also play the role of a consultant
.
Bioarcheologists working as collaborators in
the form of co-directors or as co-principal investigators (PIs) are in very good positions to
influence the ways that human remains are handled
.
The truth is that most archaeologists can and
often do excavate and retrieve human remains
.
But most archaeologists are not trained in the
analysis of human remains and therein lies the difference (Martin 2013:117-150)
.
The important
part of having them in this role is the more they know about the taphonomy and the context, the
better their analysis will be
.
Bioarcheologists can also play the role of supervisor
.
This is the
least common role that they can hold but it’s very useful if the project is to do with human
remains
.
In conclusion, bioarcheologists do a lot to help in the excavation process
.
They are a very
helpful tool to have while excavating on the field, helping on a project, or directing the project
