MEXICO CITY.- After the military reception that took place on Sunday May 30th 2010, the 9 urns that contain the remains of 12 insurgent leaders exhumed from the Monument to the Independence are guarded in the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) specialized laboratory, located in the National Museum of History at “Castillo de Chapultepec”.

Specialists led by Lilia Rivero Weber, officer of NAH's National Coordination of Cultural Heritage Conservation, and Jose Antonio Pompa, head of INAH's Direction of Physical Anthropology, will evaluate the physical state of the skeletons that remained almost 100 years inhumed, and conduct osteologic anthropology analyses.

The urns will be opened 3 days later, once the rests they contain stabilize and reach relative humidity and temperature conditions; before doing so, X Rays will be used to determine with precision where the bones are located.

Once opened, samples of the dust they contain will be taken, as well as of the bones to conduct biological analyses on them and discard bacterial presence that could harm specialists that will be working on the process.

The remains of the national heroes Miguel Hidalgo, Ignacio Allende, Juan Aldama, Jose Maria Morelos, Mariano Matamoros, Mariano Jimenez, Xavier Mina, Vicente Guerrero, Leona Vicario, Andres Quintana Roo, Nicolas Bravo and Guadalupe Victoria will be subject of studies to determine age, height, sex and ethno-genetic characteristics, as well as anatomical variants, signs of disease and fractures, by using osteometric methodology in accordance to the Monaco International Agreement on Anthropometry.

INAH counts on with a specialized laboratory with the professional equipment, furniture and illumination needed to conduct this kind of study, as well as the privacy and security that this research requires.

With the aim of not interfering with the investigation and in accordance to the Federal Transparency and Access to Governmental Public Information Law, information related to these studies will be classified until they are concluded. The National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) will provide opportune information on this regard.

After analyses are finished the rests of the 12 leaders will be moved to Palacio Nacional where Mexicans will be able to pay homage, to return to the Column of the Independence afterwards.