Forensic Anthropological Analysis

There were many factors that lead t the discovery of the skeleton owner’s gender, ethnicity, height, and age.

If you were a forensic anthropologist and were studying human remains, what information would you look for in the bones? Why would this information be helpful?

It has been shown that the skull has the second greatest degree of sexual dimorphism with reported accuracies for sex determination as high as 77% (Stewart, 1979), 80-90% (Hanihara, 1959; Krogman, 1962; Cox and Mays, 2000) and even >95% (Baughan and Demirjian, 1978; Briggs, 1998; Franklin, Freedman and Milne, 2005; Kimmerle, Ross and Slice, 2008). However, it is thought that novice forensic anthropologists might report lower accuracies than these since, for example Stewart (1979) and Krogman (1962) had highly experienced participants analysing the skeletal remains. Moreover, some disagree that the skull is the second most sexually dimorphic and argue that certain postcranial measurements for example of the long bones, fare

According to the article, considerable variation in the parameters used for the analysis of growth, making it difficult to compare results from different studies. The method used most consistently showed poor growth in height and height deficit was possible to compare between studies.

anthropology section assists in two functional areas of the DMORT operation: (1) assisting with the initial evaluation, documentation and sorting of human remains in the morgue triage, and (2) providing comprehensive forensic anthropological documentation of human remains in the morgue” (Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team, 2006, p. 49). The forensic anthropologist is expected to provide a detailed biological profile of the victims remains. This includes: sex, age, stature, ancestry, as well as peri and ante mortem trauma. Additional duties of the forensic anthropologist include obtaining samples for DNA from bone, consulting with the coroner or pathologist on trauma, consulting with odontologists on dental evidence, as well as examining

Selection of furniture for large number of people is not ideal therefore Anthropometric measurements are necessary tools to determine the range of body size in the population in other to ensure furniture

and Megyesi, M. S., (2004) studied gender and ethnic differences in bone architecture. One of the limitations of these models is that ethnic differences are not counted in femur geometry although these differences are less. Clark, J. M., et.al (1987) showed that there are big differences in the neck shaft angle, horizontal offset from person to person. Significant differences will femoral geometry (Crabtree, N., et al., 2000) (Greendale, G. A., et al., 2003). Khemachit, S. and Surasith, P. (2008) studied contour of the skull using two-dimesional image data where as Buranarugsa, and Mr. Houghton. P. (1981) studied contour of the skull with rectangular coordinates. Schenkar, R., et al. (1999) explained the application of advanced technologies to achieve physical models of the

Schrader’s research focused on entheseal changes and osteoarthritis in the skeletal remains found at Tombos, in an effort to understand how Nubian activity levels altered. The author used entheses, as a way of measuring musculoskeletal stress markers, and osteoarthritis to compare Tombos population (Schrader, 2012:62). Both conditions are impacted by the sex, age, and body size of an individual; along with environmental factors and genetic predispositions (Schrader, 2012:62). Even though neither of these conditions allow us to understand know exactly what an individual did while they were alive, they will offer up certain information about the population. Such as if the individual worked as a manual laborer or in a less physically demanding position

The field of forensic anthropology centers on the analysis of human remains; a key component of such an analysis is the knowledge of how much time has passed between the death of an individual and the discovery of the associated remains. This period is termed the postmortem interval and is useful in regards to providing an identification of remains, as awareness of the time of death can be instrumental in determining the specifics of a crime. Determination or estimation of the postmortem interval (PMI) is possible due to certain consistencies in the process of decomposition of organisms as well as both biotic and abiotic factors associated with decaying remains. Over time, new methods have been added to the repertoire of forensic anthropology,

There are many factors involved in the determination of perimortem trauma time in both forensic pathology and forensic anthropology. This is critical information when it comes to legal issues or the interpretation of prehistoric bone fractures. There is an extensive difference in fracture properties that depend both on the time that has passed since death, and the type of environment where the specimen has been exposed after death.

As stated above, anthropologist determine the sex of the remains. In order to do so, they need to know the differences between male and female skeletal materials. Over the years the human body has changed. One way anthropologist can determine the remains is cranial shape. “American white skulls have evolved by expanding in height and length”. (Godde pg. 1). Males are more affected by nutritional stress than females, this can be seen through body size. A nuchal crest relates to the neck muscles. In females “nuchal crests enlarged, while glabella has decreased. In males, supraorbitalis dull, while glabella decreased.

Early forensic anthropologist studies focused on the understanding of growth and anthropometry, resulting in highly descriptive analysis of skeletons through the measurements of bones (Işcan, 1988). The major works of this period are still used today, for instance, the estimation of age from dental has allowed a physical assessment to determine biological traits within a human population and has helped to understand the physiological difference from the population today to our ancestors (Işcan, 1988). Forensic anthropology has grown and taken shaped allowing extensive and specific research to be added to the field. This has furthered formalized forensic anthropology as a discipline and a needed dimension to forensic science after the post-1972

(Charlotte A Roberts, 2009, p.1445: Steckel1995) The stature can be determined by two methods: mathematical and anatomical. The mathematical method uses the regression formulae which are applied to the correlation of individual skeleton. The most common formulae that is used is produced by Trotter and Gleser developed on the early 20th century individuals from Terry Collection. However, the implication of the formulae from one population to another should be considered, because human proportion is systematic between populations. Therefore, in order to get a more accurate estimation, the population being investigated should be similar to the population which was used to create the formulae. (Michelle H. Raxter et al. 2006) For the anatomical way, it depends on the total length of the bines from the top to the bottom of the skeleton. Skeletons are often too fragmentary to use this method. However, this method is still more accurate than the mathematical method, as the error in mathematical method is inevitable. (Charlotte A Roberts, 2009, p.1445: Raxter et al 2006) For example, approximately 3000 skeletons were found at the site of Barton-on-Humer from a cemetery

During an individual’s lifetime the activities they involve themselves in impact on their many bodily tissues. Markers for these activities are left in the bones, joints and dentition which is useful for anthropologists as only skeletal material is left in the case of most ancient populations. Subsequently much research has been undertaken in this area with varying levels of validity.In this essay I seek to explain what information can be reliably gathered from skeletal material, it will focus on bone density and muscle attachments associated with heavy workloads, joint wear caused by repeated processes such as grinding grain, osteoarthritis and tooth wear associated with tool use. To aid this discussion I will detail the activity changes

our early ancestors. The bones suggest that females may have been 0.9 to 1.2 m