ARCL 228

Forensic Anthropology
Requirements

- Metric Graphic Paper

- A Ruler

Grading

In-Class Assignments - 5 X 6% = 36%

Film Questions - 4 X 3% = 12%
Term Assignment (Preparing a forensic-style report of a mystery case) - 22%
Final Exam - 30%

N.B: Materials that are testable include:

- Films
- In-class activities and assignments

Body farms are simulated environments where individuals are placed in different situations
of death to determine the different factors that affect body decomposition and hence allow
construction of the post-mortem interval.

Film Questions - Due Thursday, July (at the start of class).

The New Detective: Written in Bone

What was the role played by the anthropologist in each case?

To determine who an individual is, despite severe dismemberment.

Identify the remains of a body (bones). Look at the skeleton and teeth to answer:

- Who is this person?

Determine physical characteristics of a body to identify who it is.

- How did they die?

Examine the body and collect materials to provide details of the individual’s life.
An anthropologist provides a physical description and interpretation of a skeleton, but the
identity and context of the person is constructed by law enforcement.

What evidence (features or materials e.g. bones, dentition) allow them to reach their
conclusions?

Bones (to check for types of cuts), teeth

Structure of bones e.g. texture (ridge detail), bone features

Dimensions of bones (e.g. leg bones) to determine height and weight

Thigh bones width and height (into an equation) to determine height

Shape and proportions of the skull.

Using chest x-rays to identify the remains of a body e.g. number of ribs, evidence of fractures)

Identify details such as trebecula inside bones (re x-ray images of bone using a facsitron).

Body shape (e.g., slender body = young woman).

Building a 3D reconstructed model of the skull from a skull x-ray

Teeth (analyzing the dentition, arch of the jaw (to determine ethnicity), general anatomy of
the jaw, features of individual teeth e.g. periodontal disease (gives an indication of age)

Superimpose living dental records with the ones obtained after death (overlaying go films
can be used).

Were they responsible for legal determinations, like whether the deaths were homicides?

Police investigators are mostly responsible for determining the manner of death, motive for
death.

Results of investigations are brought to the police and investigators to determine how the
death was caused.
Forensic Anthropology

Real CSI requires a lot more safety and PPE.

Roles and Responsibilities of an Investigational Team

All the knowledge gathering of a case is performed by a whole team of people e.g. blood,
trace evidence, records (e.g. bank records) etc.

Forensic Lab Technicians:

- Toxicology
- Tools and weapons identification
- Biology e.g. bacteria
- DNA data bank (managed by the RCMP)

Crime scene investigators are always the police (not civilians)

When there is a suspicious or unexplained death, then a coroner or medical examiners

(civilians who investigate death and make the legal decision to determine what type of death
it is).

Forensic pathologists are specialized medical doctors who perform autopsies (e.g. they may
study the post-cranial remains)

Other forensic specialists (individuals dealing with medico-legal investigations) include

entomologists, anthropologists, artists, odontologist, etc.

Forensic Anthropologists

Apply bioanthropological methods (e.g. the skeleton) to a medicolegal investigation to

determine:

- the identity of the remains

- determine the cause and manner of death.

Clyde Snow is known as the ‘Father of American Anthropology’. He established a protocol to

be used by forensic anthropologists:

1. Are the remains human?

2. Single individual or multiple individuals? (Are the remains [bits and chunks] from one
person only)
3. When did the death occur? (Should be less than 50 years ago, because there would
otherwise be limited forensic significance - In Canada, this statute does not hold)

The Biological Profile

4. Age?

5. Sex? (however, this is limited by different gender identities, intersex individuals, etc.)

6. Ancestry? (this is most often referred to as race by law enforcement for the sake of
identification)

7. Stature/Weight/Physique?

8. Signs of disease, injury or anomalies to help with identification.

9. Cause of death (from traumatic evidence) (difficult to assess from a skeleton if cause of
death doesn’t affect the skeleton).

10. Manner of death (e.g., accident, homicide, natural, etc.)

And also:

11. Identity of the individual

Forensic anthropologists usually deal with skeletonized remains when too little soft tissue is
available for analysis.

Forensic anthropologists identify individuals from mass disasters/recovery, wars of crime,

genocides, and also studies of persons of historical interest.

Forensic Anthropology in Canada

Mostly practicing academics and consulted when skeletenized remains are obtained. In BC,
the coroner investigates sudden and unexpected deaths.

The Drag the Red program is an initiative to recover and identify dead, missing people from
the Red River. Volunteers are trained in field anthropology for example.