Chapter 1: The Golden Bowl, the Burning Palace: Applying Modern Science to Ancient Bones

Dr. Bass recounts the summer of 1964 when he was thirty-five. Bob Dyson invited Dr. Bass to Hasanlu where Dyson discovered a solid gold bowl. The bowl was found in the hands of a body crushed by a burning building surrounded by two others. Dr. Bass wanted to figure out who exactly these three men were. Dr. Bass describes this as one of his most memorable experiences in applying the tools of archeology and anthropology to the questions of forensic science. This chapter gives background into Dr. Bass’s start of his career.