skeletal remains
What archaeologists unearth
Skeletal remains are the bones left after a body has decomposed, been burned, or otherwise lost its soft tissue.
The term appears in forensic, archaeological, and journalistic contexts: Skeletal remains were discovered in a shallow grave.
It sounds more clinical than "bones" and avoids the directness of "corpse" or "body."
- vertebraeInterlocking bones of spine
- fossilsPreserved ancient organism traces
- ossuaryReceptacle for skeletal remains
- boneHard skeletal tissue
- bioarchaeologyScience of excavated remains
paleontology · ancient burial · osteology · charnel house · mass grave · shallow grave · excavation · skull · bone fragments · exhumation · fossil record · identification · missing persons · cold case · autopsy · forensic anthropology · decomposition · disinterment
- prehistorystone tools, Neolithic, Stone Age, caveman, cavemen
- animal remainsbones, bone, carcass, carrion, skull
- fossilsdinosaur bones, ammonite, amber, ammonites, fossils
- prehistoric lifedinosaur, dinosaurs, triceratops, Velociraptor, velociraptor
- antiquitiesancient coins, ancient relics, ancient artifacts, ancient pottery, ancient seals
- forensicsDNA, DNA analysis, fingerprints, forensics, criminalistics
tissue composition
skeletal remainssoft tissue
Non-rigid body structures
flesh · muscle tissue · organs · muscle · viscera