The main point of this article was that after investigations surrounding Josef Mengele’s supposed skeleton, the new field of forensic crime studies emerged. Now, human bodies and specifically bones were able to be used to confirm pieces of history and add to historical narratives.
“It was during the Mengele investigation that a variety of procedures and techniques in the forensic identification of human remains were professionally tests and publicly displayed, later to become available as methodologies in investigating war crimes and human rights violations.” (Page 55)
Prior to the readings this week, I had never thought about the importance that human bodies can actually play in history. When I think about sources that allow for information on the past, I automatically think of written documents, photographs, and objects. Due to the fact that the human body appears to be something that is redundant once the individual has passed, I had then assumed that once their life is over the actual importance of their body also faded. These readings, and specifically the one on Josef Mengele, have shown me that so much can be discovered just by looking at the biological features of someone, and the physical changes that a body will experience during exposure to different treatments and acts of violence.