Bones

Book excerpt: Ubelaker, curator of anthropology at the National Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian, is one of America's very top 'bone-men', often called upon by the FBI to investigate and help to identify the corpses and body parts of possible victims of foul play. Upon the dozens and dozens of true stories in this book, there are accounts of homicide, cannibalism, ritual sacrifice and other horrific crimes, solved and unsolved, from Ubelaker's own personal casebooks and those of the Smithsonian. Illustrated with over seventy-five photographs and drawings, reconstructions, computer sketches, and photographic super-impositions, this book fascinatingly reveals the indelible stories that bones have to tell.