Not just the colour of your skin

Female forensic anthropologist – in the lab, trying to find out who this person was before they became a ruckle of bones. She discovers that he was Cro–magnon (once in an anthropologist’s lifetime), or she discovers she was a lady of late Saxon period, or she discovers he was of asian extraction, or that he was black. And how does she know ? Because of the bone structure, the type and arrangement of teeth and cheekbones, the way the leg bones sit one upon another, the way the spine is, the brow shape, the pelvis. We are different under the skin, but we mustn’t say so for fear of being misinterpreted. If we move in the exalted circles of the lab we are already those who understand without casting opinions. And if we don’t move in those circles, it behoves us in public to behave as though we are ignorant. And we are all just innocent bones with stories attached.