In a mass fatality incident with commingled remains, what is a primary objective?

• A. Determine ancestry with high precision.
• B. Reconstruct the minimum number of individuals and assign bones to probable individuals to aid identification.
• C. Collect all bones for radioactive dating.
• D. Submit only a single complete skeleton for analysis.

Answer: (B)

In a mass fatality incident with commingled remains, the main objective is to determine how many individuals are represented and to organize the recovered bones so they can be linked to specific persons. This means reconstructing the minimum number of individuals (MNI) by sorting fragments, identifying which bones belong together, and assigning bones to probable individuals to build workable inventories for each person. This approach directly supports identification efforts, enabling matches between postmortem findings and ante mortem records (dental, medical, or family information) and allowing remains to be released to relatives in a defensible, traceable way. While other aspects of a biological profile can be informative, they are not the primary goal in this setting. Radiocarbon dating of all bones is unnecessary and impractical for routine identification, and submitting only a single complete skeleton would ignore the commingled nature of the remains and limit identifications.