Which of the following is something bones can determine about human remains?

• A. Human vs Non-Human
• B. Eye color
• C. Blood type
• D. Hair color

Answer: (A)

The key idea here is what skeletal remains can reliably reveal about identity. Bones carry diagnostic features that let a trained examiner determine whether the remains are human or non-human. Human skeletal anatomy has distinctive shapes and proportions in multiple bones—especially the pelvis and skull—and overall skeletal patterns that differ in predictable ways from most animals. This makes the human vs. non-human determination a robust conclusion you can reach from the bones alone, even when other tissues are missing.

Eye color, hair color, and blood type aren’t determined by bone structure. Those traits depend on pigments, antigens, or genetic information that bone morphology doesn’t reliably reveal, and you’d generally need soft tissues or DNA analysis to infer them.