Applications of Stable Isotope Forensics for Geolocating Unidentified Human Remains From Past Conflict Situations and Large-Scale Humanitarian Efforts

The application of stable isotope analysis (SIA) to issues of medicolegal significance is a growing area within forensic science. One application of SIA, the provenancing (i.e., sourcing) of human remains, has emerged as a novel tool in forensic anthropology over the last decade. Most applications of SIA in forensic anthropology have focused on predicting a region of origin or antemortem travel history of an unidentified decedent. More recently, researchers have expanded these applications to aid in the identification of decedents from past wars and conflicts, victims of genocide, and undocumented border crossers. This chapter presents several case studies to demonstrate how SIA can be used as an identification tool for provenancing individuals who died in East Asia during the Vietnam and Korean wars, as well as suspected border crossers from the United States–Mexico border. While many technical challenges remain, SIA is a useful technique to aid in the identification of human remains from past conflicts and large-scale humanitarian efforts.