Determining the racial affiliation of skeletal remains is a difficult task for forensic anthropologists. There are certain features that are more commonly found in one group than in other groups; these features are mostly present in the cranial region. A point to be made, however, is that there is more individual variation within races than variation between races.
There are certain traits that tend to be more common in people of specific ancestry. The three major racial groups that anthropologists use in determining racial affiliation are African, Asian, and European. These three racial groups usually have cranial features that can be used to suggest ancestry. An example of this is the interorbital breadth analysis, which measures the distance between the inner part of the eyes. A wider distance could suggest African ancestry, Asian ancestry will usually has an intermediate distance, and a narrow distance could suggest European ancestry.
Different features of the teeth can also used by forensic anthropologists to suggest racial affiliation. One such trait is the shape of the incisors; people of African ancestry more commonly have blade shaped incisors, Australian ancestry tend toward trace shape, East Asian ancestry often have shoveled incisors and European ancestry rarely have shoveled incisors.