The first step in examining burial remains is to determine the likely group affiliation, sex and age of the individual or individuals in the burial. This is more difficult when the skeletal remains are incomplete, either due to circumstances before burial or due to later disturbance of the burial site. One case studied by W. Paul Jones and Christy G. Turner consisted of an incomplete skeleton with relatively small bones and skull. The wear on the teeth was consistent with that of an adult between 36-55 years of age. Considering the small bones and the probable age range it has been determined the skeleton is an adult female. The features of the skull helped to determine the probable group this skeleton was from. The left premolar region, torus, was slightly larger than the right torus, this is a feature more common in Eastern Puebloans (Jones, 1976: 44-45). Along with the mandibular torus features, brachycranic skulls, such as this one, tend to be more common in Puebloan groups than in Basketmaker groups. Thus, using skeletal analysis, the remains found in this case were of an adult female in the Puebloan Anasazi group.

These techniques can be used for multiple burials as well. A burial site in Monument Valley near the Arizona/Utah border, it is not fully established as to whether in Arizona or Utah (Nass, 1982:257), was found with the remains of several people intermixed. The burial site was a slab-lined pit, 30 cm deep with a diameter of approximately 0.61 m, with evidence of burning. There were no cultural materials present; thus the inferences made were all based solely on the skeletal remains. The burial was determined to have taken place between 900 and 1300 AD. After analysis of the remains it was determined that all of the remains were human and consisted of at least three adults, three adolescents and one infant. The more difficult aspect was to try to discern the cultural affiliation and relationship of the people. Due to the artificial lamdboidal flattening in each of the five adult skulls it is believed the group was from the Anasazi of Kayenta, Navajo Mountain or San Juan River, where cranial deformation had been customary since the Pueblo II period. In the northern Southwest culture of the San Juan Anasazi the lambdoidal flattening is distinctive, however asymmetric flattening is found in Mesa Verde (Nass, 1982: 264). An interesting feature of three of the skulls is a missing posterior condyloid foramen. This is an infrequent trait; thus there is a high probability of biological relationships. In this analysis it is believed that this was a later Pueblo (Pueblo II or later) Anasazi family from the northern region of the Southwest. The analysis of how the family died will be presented later in this paper.

There are two typical types of individual burials, primary and secondary. Primary burials are most common; these burials take place soon after death, before decomposition starts to effect the body. Skeletal remains from primary burials tend to be relatively articulated, excepting natural effects such as earth or rock shifting. Secondary burials are burials of decomposed, or at least disarticulated, remains. It is unknown as to why certain individuals were buried after decomposition had taken effect. One suggestion has been that the family relocated a buried relative who died in battle or during an excursion away from home (Bullock, 1991: 12). Another, which follows the previous line of thought, is that family members took the decomposing unburied body of a relative who died in battle and buried it. A completely different theory is that the bodies were relocated out of the way into less used areas. Secondary burials tend to be less articulated than primary, at times they are found as a jumble of bones strewn into a burial pit.