Where do those remains come from?

•Exhumation of 168 unclaimed corpses from cemetery of Terrassa (Spain).•Conditions of corpses and artifacts were described to identify the remains origin.•Artifacts come from autopsy, thanatopraxy, funeral practice, or forgotten objects.•Artifacts can be divided into 2 groups: highly indicatives and suggestive.

Part of the study of skeletal remains or corpses in advance decay located in the field involves determining their origin. They may be the result of criminal activity, accident, unearthed because of erosion, or they may also have originated from a cemetery. The discovery site, condition of the remains, and the associated artifacts, are factors that could be helpful for the forensic anthropologist to identify the origin of the remains.In order to contribute to this recognition, an analysis was made of the exhumations of 168 unclaimed human remains from the cemetery of Terrassa (Catalonia, Spain). This investigation presents a description of artifacts and conditions of remains that could indicate that the human remains may have originated from a cemetery.