I am quite familiar with cleaning turtle skeletons because I often find specimens that have died in a nearby RR track.  Now are we talking about a box turtle or some other species?  Use an old tooth brush and a small bucket of soapy water.  Use the tooth brush to rub the black specks (whatÂ?s left of the flesh) off of the bones and shell.  You may even want to let them soak in the water for a while.

   
  For what you don't get with the tooth brush, use tweezers to take off the flesh from the leg bones.  You might want to leave (at least a portion) of the flesh on the foot bones.  You want to make sure that there is enough flesh on the feet to hold the foot bones together or because once they come apart they are very difficult to get into the right positions.

  I would suggest leaving the skin on the skull.  There is only a very thin layer of skin on the skull so it doesn't hurt to leave it on.  If you try to peel it off the skull may cave in.

  Another note is that you will want to be very careful if you clean the skull.  I use a specialized tooth brush the orthodontist gave me a while back but you could use a pipe cleaner.  If the skull starts coming apart slightly, smear a bit of glue (it doesn't matter which kind) with a tooth pick on the weak area.  Most of the time if it does start coming apart, it will happen right above the eye sockets, although I have known them to come apart in other areas too.

  One other important note.  If this is a box turtle, make sure you don't brush the plastron (underside of the shell) so hard that you make it come off.

  Even after you clean it, the turtle is going to stink something awful.  Put the shell and bones in a place where it is not in direct sunlight (causes the scutes to peel off) and raccoons can't get to it.  If it is a box turtle, use a stick to prop open the plastron while it is "destinking".  It should be more tolerable in a few days.  This is a problem for every one.  I was doing some research at the Smithsonian last year, and the person who was with me opened up the shelf that had the AST and the Galapagos Tortoises in it.  It didn't smell like roses .

  Be sure you keep all the bones.  Even small bones can play and important part it the turtles anatomy.  I would also suggest that you put it in some type of container (shoe box, Tupperware, cheap plastic Wal-Mart cookie tray) for a while so that you can mess with it and learn how the bones go together.  There are probably some websites out there on turtle anatomy and I know there is at least one book that has good illustrations of how the bones go together.

  I hope that this will be of help.  I also hope that I didn't gross anybody out.

  Alex

Currently, I am processing a few skeletons myself at UCA.  A few helpful hints:
if there are some areas that have not decomposed thoroughly, demestid beetles help out big time.  These little beetles can get into tiny crevices that a toothbrush (no matter how small) cannot.  You can get these little beetles cheap online or dig some up in the back yard.  They are hard to work with, so read up on them prior to using them.  They have a tendency to walk away with bones if your not careful. 
Also, some people do use bleach solutions to whiten and clean their bones.  This also takes care of the stink, but if not cleaned properly afterwards can have really bad effects on the bones int he long run.  In place of bleach you can use a hydrogen peroxide solution from your local grocery store.  3% solution is fine and will do the trick.
Good Luck, and if you have any questions down the road about the skeletal structure feel free to contact me. 

-Howey[/quote]

Is that all of the bones?  There are at least three bones that I can't see in the photos that you would need to reconstuct the skeleton.

  I can tell that your turtle "was" a male.  There is a trick that I picked up a while back that you can use to tell the gender of a box turtle even when you can't see the plastron.

  Alex