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The Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team (Equipo Argentino de Antropología Forense – EAAF) has pioneered the use of forensic anthropology in the field of human rights. The EAAF works to identify the remains of victims of state violence during Argentina’s military dictatorship (1976-1983), a period during which 10,000 to 30,000 people were killed or simply “disappeared” by the state. Its goal is two-fold: to return victims’ remains to their families and thus aid in the healing process, and to provide evidence for legal cases against the perpetrators of state violence.

Forensic anthropology is the discipline that combines the methods of physical anthropology and forensic medicine to solve legal cases involving human remains. The EAAF thus uses techniques from archaeology, odontology, radiology, genetics and ballistics, all in order to arrive at a positive identification of remains of the disappeared, and to gather information about the cause and circumstances of death. Their work is innovative because they have been among the first in the field of forensic anthropology to work on human rights cases, and because they have brought a much greater degree of precision and accuracy to Argentina’s investigations of past state crimes.

The work of the EAAF on a particular case usually begins with a preliminary investigation based on written and oral sources, in order to arrive at a hypothesis of where the person might be buried. They conduct interviews with relatives, friends, former prisoners and cellmates and former political activists to collect information on the victim’s physical characteristics and about the likely time and place of death. The EAAF also studies the police and bureaucratic records that were created at the time of the disappearances, which contain physical descriptions, fingerprints, and autopsy records. They have often had to obtain court orders to gain entrance to police archives.

Once the likely location of the burial has been identified, the team uses standard archeological techniques to recover the person’s remains. Often they drop a test probe at the foot of the grave to determine the level of the burial, and then use picks and shovels to remove the earth to within a few centimeters of the skeleton. They then carefully use small instruments like brushes, spatulas and trowels to recover the entire skeleton as well as all the accompanying evidence.

The work then proceeds to the laboratory, where the EAAF scientists use a variety of techniques to attempt to match the remains uncovered with the information gathered from the victim’s family and from medical and dental records, when those are available. This is where the interdisciplinary nature of forensic anthropology becomes important. They examine the bones to determine gender, age, stature and handedness, and also analyze teeth and hair remains. Bullet remains in the skeleton are compared to what is known about the military’s preferred types of ammunition. DNA testing procedures have also begun to be used, though more sporadically due to the high cost involved.

Since 1986, the EAAF has exhumed hundreds if not thousands of bodies, and has succeeded in identifying the remains of close to 100 people. Families have learned the truth of the fate of their loved ones and have been able to give them a proper burial; in some cases the identification has even led to the reuniting of children of the disappeared with their biological families. Furthermore, EAAF scientists have provided legal evidence for the prosecution of human rights violators. Due to its expertise in the area of forensics and human rights, the EAAF has contributed to the use of this tactic in many countries, producing a new avenue for South-South cooperation. To date, the EAAF has worked in 31 countries.