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Human Remains: Guide for Museums and Academic Institutions. Vicki Cassman, Nancy Odegaard, and Joseph Powell, eds. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2007. 310 pp.
Human Remains: Guide for Museums and Academic Institutions provides a working guide for the management of human osteological collections, broadly defined. The book's 1 7 chapters discuss recommended policies and procedures for human osteological collections, condition assessments, treatment, conservation, sampling, examination and analysis, handling, storage and transport, pest management, associated remains, archives and documentation, fieldwork, and health concerns for those working with human remains. They also examine indigenous or traditional treatment of human remains and value orientation of descendant communities, ethical issues relating to human osteological collections, laws regarding human remains and burials, and museum policies regarding access to and exhibition of human remains.
The volume does not address analytical or research topics, except by providing definitions of some of the more commonly employed techniques, nor does it address the complexity of managing other kinds of human biological samples or materials (e.g., tissue samples). Instead, it focuses on the management of osteological or closely related collections and their maintenance for research or...