When an anthropologist examines skeletal remains, it is usually necessary to remove any of the remaining soft tissue. Prior to the current study, the effects that these various techniques of soft-tissue removal may have on subsequent DNA analysis were unknown. Scanning electron microscopy has found significant alterations to the bone surface depending on the technique used. The five techniques briefly described in this report are used by major forensic anthropology laboratories throughout the United States. The current study subjected six rib bones from two human skeletal remains (one male and one female) to the five techniques, with one rib from each specimen receiving no treatment (control). In addition to describing the processing techniques used, this report describes the bone sampling, contamination precautions, DNA extraction, PCR, and fragment analysis. The study found that the commonly used methods for the treatment of skeletonized or partially skeletonized remains do not generally adversely affect subsequent DNA analysis; however, methods that involve prolonged heating apparently cause damage that may compromise subsequent DNA analysis. Common short tandem repeat (STR) based DNA analyses were successful on most samples, however. 1 table and 30 references