forensic anthropology final exam

cause of death

medically - stop breathing and heart stops

forensically - factors leading to above

ex: asphyxiation due to drowning

manner of death

5 categories

natural

accidental

suicide

homicide

undetermined

trauma

injury caused to living tissue by an outside force

ex: fractures

mechanisms of trauma

projectile, blunt, sharp, thermal, misc.

antemortem

before death

shows signs of healing

perimortem

around the time of death

no sign of healing

postmortem

occurred after death

ex: taphonomic effects

fracture causes

pathological weakened bones

stress fractures - overuse

fatigue fractures - intermittent stress over a long period of time

traumatic fractures - due to an outside force

bone mechanics

loading - application of force

stiffness - ability to resist deformation

elastic modulus

• stress - load per unit area

• strain - change in dimension of a loaded body

wet bone

stiff and elastic

can withstand slow loading strain longer

dry bone

stiff and brittle

compression

squeeze

normally in spine

tension

stretch

normally in elbow and knee

bending

concave side subjected to compression, convex side subjected to tension

shearing

slide portions of bone relative to one another

torsion

combo of sheer and rotation

fracture repair

1. hematoma forms

2. fibrocartilaginous callus forms

3. bony callus forms

4. bone remodeling

diastatic

the fracture follows the suture

what age group is more likely to have compression fractures

older adults

>65

what age group is more likely to have bending fractures

children

<10

what age group is more likely to have epiphyseal fractures

adolescents/teenagers

10-18

blunt force trauma

slow velocity application of stress over relatively large surface area

fractures follow path of least resistance

ex: club, hammer, fists, falls

delamination

separation of articular cartilage from underlying bone

high velocity trauma

rapid application of force over a small surface area

beveling

angling in direction of projectile

entrance wounds - internally beveled

exit wounds - externally beveled

spall

small flakes of bone broken off when projectile penetrates the other side of bone

sharp force trauma

made by a tool with a point or beveled edge

knife wounds

cuts and stabs

bone alterations - straight line incisions, punctures, gouges, clefts

serrated vs non serrated

stab wound

length on surface less than depth of pentration

slash wounds

longer surface cut that deep

chop wounds

caused by machetes, meat cleavers, swords, axes

extensive soft tissue and bone damage

can be blunt + sharp force trauma

thermal trauma

soft tissues burn and contract, leading to the pugilistic pose

characterized by: charring, delamination, calcification, color change, shrinking, fracture

blast trauma

primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary

primary blast

soft tissue destruction, bone micro-fractures

traumatic amputation

secondary blast

shrapnel, mines, bomb casing materials

same effect as high velocity trauma

comminuted fractures, loss of periosteal tissue, intrusion into medullary cavity

tertiary injury

displacement or impact

micro fracturing, stress applied perpendicular to bone axis

spinal fractures and blunt force injuries

pathologies

infection, osteoarthritis, dental

bone infection

osteitis - general inflammation of bone tissue

ex: tuberculosis, syphilis, polio

lesion - bone alteration

lytic - bone loss

deformative - change in bone shape

osteomyelitis

bacterial/fungal infection

characterized by pus draining holes called cloaca

osteoarthritis

inflammation of joint surface

caused by: injury, aging, activity, congenital

VERY common in: vertebrae, knee

dental pathologies

caries/cavities - decalcification of enamel and dentine

periodontal disease: inflammation around tooth, abscesses

big 4 of biological profile

sex

age

stature

ancestry

ancestry estimation

cranial non-metric methods

metrics mostly postcranial

most people have mixed traits

ancestry meaning

refers to ancestral geographic region of origin

“population affinity”

craniometric analysis

measure skulls using landmarks

used on ForDisc

shovel-shaped incisors

present in native americans and asian individuals

carabelli’s cusps

found in european individuals

secular changes through time

narrower faces and taller cranial vaults since 1850

overall increases in stature

• better nutrition

mass fatality

deaths of more individuals than can be handled by local resources

can be natural (earthquake, pandemic, etc) or manmade (plane crash, traffic collision, terrorist attack)

mass casualty steps

1. search and recovery

2. organization and workflow

   1. separation of bone from other materials

   2. human vs nonhuman

   3. individual ids

US mass fatality system

health and human services (HHS) → national disaster medical system (NDMS) → disaster mortuary operational response team (DMORT)

personal identification

process of establishing the id of an individual

1. positive id

   1. human remains can be associated with one person to the exclusion of all others

2. probably/presumptive/tentative id

   1. its highly probable decadent is person in records, but requires more investigation

3. exclusion of assumed id

nutritional deficiencies

porotic hyperostosis, cribra orbitalia - iron deficiency

rickets - vitamin D deficiency

harris lines

interrupted bone growth due to malnutrition in childhood

enamel hypoplasia

interrupted enamel growth due to malnutrition

wormion bones

extra bone pieces that occur within sutures

20-80% of skulls have

sternal foramen

extra holes resulting from non fusion or incomplete fusion during bone formation

~7% of adults have

the “russian” method

uses the musculature of the skull

1st used for paleoanthropology, then adopted by the KGB

the american method

“tissue depth method”

1.tissue depth markers based on cadavers and live tissue punctures

2. various points on the face while laying down

3. skull/cast mounted in frankfurt plane

4. pieces of rubber cut to tissue depth markers and fixed to skull

5. area between tissue markers filled in with clay

6. artistic interpretation

anatomical/manchester method

combo of russian + american

uses musculature of skull and tissue depth markers/landmarks

most commonly used today

surgical implements

orthopedic devices, implants, dental hardware

reference and maker numbers that are tied to patient records/medical records

haplotype

sets of DNA variations that tend to be inherited together

haplogroup

group of similar haplotypes that share common ancestor

y-chromosome and mtDNA most used by ancestry sites