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Forensic Anthropology
“There is a brief but very informative biography of an individual contained within the skeleton, if you know how to read it…”
-Clyde Snow, forensic anthropologist
Alphonse Bertillon• Father of Anthropometry
– Developed ID method based on 11 measurements
– Unreliable – abandoned for fingerprints
Bertillon LAB
I think them be BONES…
What is Bone?
Bone Function
• 206 bones in an adult human• Function of bones:
– Provides structure and rigidity – Protects soft tissue and organs– Serves as an attachment for muscles– Produces blood cells– Serves as a storage area for minerals– Can detoxify the body by removing heavy metals and
other foreign elements from the blood
Under the Microscope
• Anthropologists can use either whole bones or PIECES OF BONE to make the following determinations:
• An age range• Sex• Race• Approximate height• Cause of death, disease, or anomaly
You will be able to:
• Distinguish between a male and a female skeleton
• Give an age range after examining unknown remains
• Describe differences in skull features among the three major racial categories
• Estimate height by measuring long bones
Bones and landmarks to know:
• Cranial bones• Cranial Sutures• Mandible• Teeth• Epiphyseal
Line/Plate• Vertebral column• Sacrum• Coccyx• Coxal bones
• Pubic symphysis• Pubic arch• Sciatic notch• Hyoid• Clavicle• Humorus• Radius• Ulna• Carpals• Metacarpals
• Phalanges• Femur• Patella• Tibia• Fibula• Metatarsals• Tarsals
Age
• At birth, humans have approximately 450 bones
• Bones fuse as we grow• The last bone fuses at
~26 YOA• There are 206 bones in
the adult body
14
Age DeterminationMost accurate estimations from: Teeth
Epiphyses or growth plates
Pubic symphysis
Cranial sutures: the three major cranial sutures appear as distinct lines in youth and gradually close from the inside out.
Investigators always use an age range because of the variation in people and how they age. The investigator does not want to eliminate any possibilities for identification.
15
Age Determination Using Cranial Sutures
Sagittal suture completely closed Males—26 or older Female—29 or older
Sagittal suture is complete open Male—less than 32 Female—less than 35
Complete closure of all three major sutures Male—over 35 Female—over 50
Sagittal suture
Lambodial Coronal
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Age Determination Using Basilar Suture
Basilar Suture Technically known as the
synchondrosis spheno-occipitalis, closes in females as young as 14 and in males as young as 16. If the suture is open, the individual is generally considered 18 or younger.
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Age Determination Using Epiphysis
Stage of Unionof Medial Clavicle
Male Female
Non-union without separate epiphysis
21 or younger 20 or younger
Non-union with separate epiphysis
16-21 17-20
Partial union 17-30 17-33
Complete union 21 or older 20 or older
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Age Determination Using Epiphysis
Stage of Unionof the Iliac Crest
Male Female
Non-union without separate epiphysis
16 or younger 11 or younger
Non-union with separate epiphysis
13-19 14-15
Partial union 14-23 14-23
Complete union 17 or older 18 or older
Images: http://www.legacyhealth.org/images/Housecalls/claviclefx.jpg, http://www.sciencephoto.com/images/download_lo_res.html?id=773301768, http://anthropology.si.edu/writteninbone/calvert_femur.html, http://anthropology.si.edu/writteninbone/trauma.html
What else can we learn from bones?
DNA samples can be collected from bone, teeth, and hair to provide clues to a person’s identity.
Scientists may also be able to gain clues as to a person’s past, recent injuries, or the cause of death based on bone fractures and other signs of trauma.
Damage from a hammer
Gunshot Wounds
Healed Fractures
Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company 20
Facial Restoration
After determining the sex, age, and race of an individual, facial features can be built upon a skull to assist in identification. Erasers are used to make tissue depths at various points on the skull. Clay is used to build around these markers and facial features are molded.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQaEv5D7Ndo Detective’s Story:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_HaJT7OVIQ
Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company 21
Steps in Facial Reconstruction
With a skull: Establish age, sex and race Plot landmarks for tissue
thickness Plot origin and insertion points
for muscles Plot landmarks for facial
features Select a dataset and mount
markers for tissue thickness Mount the eyes
Model muscles on skull Add fatty tissue around
eyes and lacrimal glands Add eyelids Add the nose Add the parotid gland Add the ears Cover all with layers of
skin Detail the face
John Emil List• “Breeze Knoll” Westfield, NJ• Three kids, wife, and mother• Late 60s early 70s• Nov 9th: Vacation staycation
• "I'm sorry that it all had to end this way but with so little income I just couldn't go on keeping the family together. And I didn't want them to experience poverty." He made the same excuse to Helen's mother, the children's maternal grandmother. He also mentioned that he could not be sure that their souls would remain pure in the future, giving the impression that he believed he had killed them for their own good. To save his own mother from anguish, he had killed her, too.
• August 1972, house burnt down – arson unsolved• 18 year manhunt
WANDA FLANNERY
• Tabloids• Neighbor Bob
Clark
Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company 25
One Final Product
John List killed his entire family, moved to a new town and assumed a new identity. Seventeen years later, Frank Bender reconstructed what he believed List would look like. It was shown on America’s Most Wanted, and he was turned in by the viewers almost immediately. . . looking very much like the reconstruction.
Check out more about this story on CourtTV’s crime library:www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/family/list/1.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6o6stIMtMU
Tools of the Trade
• Tools of Anthropologists
Reading the RemainsWatch the video and then answer the questions.
1. What information do they provide for law enforcement agencies?
2. How many skeletons do they have in their collection?
3. What do they learn about a skeleton from each tool?
CT Scan –
X- ray –
Mass spectrometer –
Scanning electron microscope –
DNA Analysis –
Forensic Tools & TechniquesWatch the video and then answer the questions.
1. What techniques or tools did the scientists use to find the body?
2. What is “disturbed soil”? What might it indicate?
3. How did they narrow down the areas to investigate?
4. Did they find a body?
Dirty Bones
How to excavate bones
• What is the correct procedure for excavating bone?
• What is the “context” of the bones?• What materials are the excavation tools made
of?• Why is this material used?
Caveman found buried the way females were buried.
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/Bone-Cops.html
http://player.ooyala.com/player.js?height=384&width=512&embedCode=Z5YTdwOn2J2QIv7gWJ6XaBLYU7KBy_vT&deepLinkEmbedCode=Z5YTdwOn2J2QIv7gWJ6XaBLYU7KBy_vT
