How can the cause of death be determined if the body is a skeleton?

There is a branch of science called Anthropology where scientists view and study corpses and skeletons for clues to how a person died.

The University of Tennessee at Knoxville is the only university in the US that has a graveyard of decaying corpses to teach students and medical examiners, police departments the stages that a human corpse goes through to provide evidence later how someone was murdered, etc. It is said the decaying graveyard has a smell few people forget. For example, a medical examiner might request a forensic anthropologist for help for clues how a corpse died. To learn more, quiz Google for the University of Tennessee at Knoxville Anthropology website.

If murders interest you, you can read facts about how people poison people for whatever reason. Go to Google and search for Criminal Poisoning by John Harris Trestrail, lll.

Not exactly the cause of death, but often paleo-pathologists can hazard a good guess, especially if the bones show signs of a serious disease. It also depends on how much money you have to spend.

For example, advanced TB and syphilis can be determined by eye. You wouldn't necessarily need to commission a DNA test if it's so severe you think it killed them. You'd probably only commission a DNA test to check if it was present in the population and you had a good reason to pose the question in the first place.

Other diseases require chemical analysis to look for. Likewise some cancers show up with radiography but you might not be able to prove conclusively that that is what killed them.

Trust me. There are ways. Quincy M.E. can find it.