 To open a grave, without the due preparation, could result in an extra damage for those persons that lost relatives in the past and still are looking to know about their loved ones.  The victims’ families and communities must be considered a central and fundamental part of the investigative process, before, during and after the process itself. It is advisable to inform them as early as possible in this process of the real possibilities – of, e.g. finding and identifying the bodies– so as not to create false expectations.  A mass or single grave, or bodies in the surface, could be a crime scene with records of criminal activities.  Excavation is a unique process and the mistakes made during this process cannot be repaired. Once the body is removed by a non trained person, the damage is done, and essential information that could help in the identification process could be lost for ever.  Whatever is recovered are not only objects but also information.  This is not simply about excavating and recovering a body but also about interpreting the findings in the appropriate context and relating both to the preliminary investigation and the laboratory analysis.  Forensic archaeology is the scientific discipline with the necessary capacity and knowledge to analyze a “crime scene” that involves exhumation of bodies, recovery of remains and objects spread about the surface.  In the absence of forensic archeologists, the work should stop until proper specialists, with proved experience, can plan the process.  The work of the forensic anthropologists could assist in establishing if the remains are human or not; approximate time of death according to conservation of the bodies and objects associated with the bodies; to establish the context; to avoid commingling between different bodies; to avoid post mortem damage.  There has to be a proper record as well chain of custody, for every body and object removed from the grave or other location.  The remains and other associated objects, have to be stored in an adequate laboratory with proper custody.  The analysis of the remains has to be done by a team composed of a forensic pathologist and a forensic anthropologist, at least.     50