Forensic Anthropology Quiz 1

forensic anthropology

The application of the standard anthropological techniques, based on osteological, taphonomic and archaeological principles, in the recovery and assessment of human remains in medicolegal investigations

Understand where forensic anthropology fits under the broader umbrella of anthropology

underneath biological anthropology and then further under osteology

the circumstances in which anthropology may assist in an investigation

1.) unidentified, dismembered, or isolated carrion (units of dead and/or decaying flesh)

2.) skeletonized material

3.) Multiple fatalities

• Airplane crashes

• Wars may be part of international human rights

  • Bosnia

  • Iraq

  • Guatemala

• Acts of nature

4.) Persons of historic interest

• Last czar of Russia

• Victims of the Titanic

5.) When whole body....

• radiographing of extensive injury

• sequence and trajectory of multiple bullet wounds

• determining age from bones

The difference in roles and responsibilities of a medical examiner and an anthropologist

Medical Examiner

• soft tissue

• legal authority over the cause of death

Forensic Anthropologist

• hard tissue

• no legal authority over cause of death

• Overlap the work of an ME (osteology) and CSI (arecheology)

Parkman Murder of 1849

• Physical evidence: Parkman – dismembered; body parts found in the anatomy lab, the privy, the burnt head in the furnace.

• Dr Jefferies Wyman, who was a professor of anatomy at Harvard examined the bones and testified the bones were from the same person

• Reassembled the body to determine age and height consistent with Parkman

• Dr Keep Parkman’s dentist remained the dentures and identified them

Lugert Case of 1987

Adolph and Louisa

“Unable to dissolve his marriage, he decided to dissolve his wife.”

• greasy jelly

• 4 pieces of bone – together no larger than a quarter

• Louisa’s ring

First time a forensic anthropologist testified in court

Ruxton Case of 1935

The success of the methods used in the Ruxton case, which was widely reported in the press, led to increased public and professional trust in the capabilities of forensic science

• an early example of anatomical position, which is the standing position for the human body.

• Early example of photo superimposition

  • superimposing an image of the recovered skull over an ante mortem image of the suspected individual

Thomas Dwight

“Father of forensic anthropology”

A subspecialty of physical anthropology, forensic anthropology came into being in 1878 when anatomist Thomas Dwight published an essay titled “Identification of the Human Skeleton: A Medico-legal Study.”

T. Wingate Todd

• Cleveland

• 1912-1938 – 2600 skeletons

• Hamann-Todd Collection

Having taken photos and made anthropometric measurements of cadavers, Todd's studies on mass casualties as a result of wars and the re-identification of victims mark the most significant contribution to the development of forensic anthropology as a scientific discipline.

Robert J. Terry and Mildred Trotter

• St. Louis Missouri

• 1914-1965 total of 1636 skeletons

A vast majority have been aimed at advancing forensic anthropology and its methodologies for identification through various aspects of skeletal anatomy

Wilton Krogman

Guide to the Identification of Human Skeletal Material

• guide used by the FBI today

• 1940’s and 1950’s

• WWII – too many bodies; too quickly

• US ARMY – CILHI

  • central identification lab in Hawaii

  • Trotter took over as director in 1948

  • Meticulous record keeping

  • Developed means of measuring the length of long bones to estimate stature

  • Bodies are used to document and establish information about trauma to the body

Ellis Kerley

Modern Period

In research, he is best known for pioneering the microscopic approach to the estimation of age at death from human bone

famous for identifying a famous NAzi physician

Clyde Snow

He developed the field of investigation of individual and mass graves to gather evidence of human rights violations

humanitarian efforts and identification of civilian victims

William Bass

Forensic Anthropology Data Bank

• University of Tennessee, Knoxville

• deviation from standards

• developed computer program to track

• FORDISC

  • designed to determine the ancestry of modern human skeletal specimens through discriminant function analysis

• Body farm guy

• Post mortem interval

  • time since death

Forensic anthropology and Expert Witness Testimony

Not often

• most of the time no crime is committed

Most cases

• determine whether human bone and, if human bone, assists in determining biological profile – help with identification

Testify

• most often when a crime is committed and skeletal evidence can assist in determining guilt or innocence – trauma, recovery, postmortem interval

Guidelines: Do NOT

misrepresent qualifications

Guidelines: Treat human remains, caseworkers, colleagues, and invested parties with

professional and cultural respect

Guidelines: Follow the

scientific method

Guidelines: Do no

Harm

Full list of Clyde Snows Questions

1.) Are the remains human?

2.) Do the remains represent a single individual, or are they commingled?

3.) When did the death occur

4.) How old was the decedent

5.) What was the decedent’s sex

6.) What is the decedent’s race? (not applicable now since we know race isn’t biological)

7.) What was the decedent’s stature, body weight, and physique

8.) Are there anatomical anomalies?

9.) What is the cause of death?

10.) What is the manner of death

How to determine if it is bone?

• Macroscopic

  • looking at it with the naked eye, tactile

• Microscopic (but destructive)

• XRF (X-ray fluorescence spectrometry)

• Bone is made of

  • Calcium

  • Phosphorus

  • Some iron

• Bones are composed of hydroxyapatite, a naturally occurring mineral and synthesized material that is a key component of bone that contains calcium and phosphorus

3 MAJOR CHARACTERISTICS OF HOMININS

1.) Bipedalism

2.) Nonhoning chewing

3.) Large brains

In humans, limbs are

• More robust in nonhuman animals

• Radius and ulna often fused

• Tibia and fibula are often fused

• Some nonhuman animals lack a fibula

Common misidentification with child bones because

Often not recognizable when they’re developing, because the ends of the bones aren’t fused to leave room to grow

Skull morphology is important when identifying human bones because

• Neurocranial morphology

• Splanchnocranial (facial) morphology

• Musculature is less developed in humans

• typically east for non-osteologists

Mandibles when determine human or non-human remains are important because

• Nonhuman mandibles are often “v-shaped”

• Human mandibles are parabolic in shape, whereas nonhuman primates are “u-shaped”

Bones microstructure is important when determining human or nonhuman reminas because

• In humans, osteons are scattered and evenly spaced

• In nonhumans, there is often osteon banding or plexiform bone

• Tricky – bone differs considerably between species and between bones within one animal

MNI = minimum number of individuals

Basically if you have 3 left femur bones you have to have at least three people

Fetal remains

1.) Was the fetus viable?

2) Is there evidence of any trauma that cannot be explained by childbirth?

Trophy skulls

Often taken from foreign wars and brought back, it is a very common practice

Hardware in bones

Most hardware has serial numbers to help with identification

terhanation

It is a very old surgical procedure for when there is extra cranial pressure, so they would remove a piece of the skull to relieve pressure, and it is still done today

Bone dating tecnhiques

radiocarbon dating

• measuring the amount of carbon 14

EX: modern bomb curve

• 1950-1963 atmospheric thermonuclear testing resulted in high levels of carbon-14 in terrestrial organisms

Things important to determining the age of the decdent

• the teeth (see image) m

• if the spheno-occipital synchondrosis is fused since it fuses between 17-21

• The ilium, pubis, and ischium are important for determining age because they undergo predictable, age-related changes, including their fusion during adolescence and subsequent degeneration throughout adulthood.

Determining the decedent’s sex

Determining stature, weight, and physique

actually very hard to tell between muscle and fat.

Difference between cause and manner of death

Example: A Man falls off a roof.

• Cause= falling off the roof

• If he tripped

  • manner: accidental

• If he was pushed

  • manner: homocide

osteology

The science that explores the biology, development, structure, function, and variation of bones

Average adult skeleton

has 206 bones but due to human variation there are things like extra ribs it also depends on the age and person

Bone is…

connective tissue

Connective tissue is…

• mesenchymal call

  • type of stem cell

  • Has the ability to differentiate into muscle, bone, cartilage…

2 types of connective tissues

• irregular

• regular

irregular connective tissue

encapsulates, organs, vessels, bones, and muscles

Regular bone is the

strongest and lest flexible of all connective tissues, but is still flexible because of collagen, if it wasn’t we’d constantly be breaking our bones

regular ligaments are

connective tissue for bone to bone or cartilage

Regular tendons go from

muscle to bone

regular aponeuroses are

thick connective tissue on the bottoms of our feet and palms of hands that provides protection against injustice.

Regular connective tissue list

ligaments, tendons, aponeuroses, fascia, elastic, cartilage, bone

Regular fascia

encases muscles, groups of muscles, and large vessels and nerves, “plastic wrap”

Compared to the film on chicken breast, you can pull away

Fascia is thinner than irregular connective tissue

Elastic tissue

• found in the vocal folds and heart

• very strong, so it can handle large amounts of strain and work

Bone function (general)

• We turnover bone cells and make new bone cells and get rid of them like skin cells, but much slower

• can be repaired without major medical intervention

• is not static

• is not simple

• is a highly complex organ system

• influences the immune system

• influences hormones

• influences gut microbiome

Bone function: Protection

• protects the vital organs of the body

• Houses structures essential to the senses

Bone Function: Movement

Provides architecture for ligament and muscle (tendon) attachment to facilitate movement, locomotion, and joint stability

Bone function: Mineral homeostasis and bioavailability

Particularly, calcium and phosphate

Does NOT just store minerals

Bone function: blood

• factory for the production of blood cells

• interaction from bone cells and bone marrow that interact to create red blood cells

Bone function: cells

Critical to the production of cells associated with the innate immune system, a person’s first defense against invading pathogens, and the prevention of infection

Classification of bone by shape: Long bones

tubular bones of the extremities

classification of bones by shape: Flat bones

• are not flat

• from the walls of cavities

• frontal, parietal, temporal, occipital, sphenoid, and ethmoid

classification of bones by shape: irregular bones

• bones of the facial skeleton

• vertebrae

• carpals and tarsals

Classification of bone by shape: Sesamoid

• inside of tendons

• take on some of the stress of movement

• largest

  • kneecap

  • redistributes weight

  • prevents our tendons from snapping

Long Bone Anatomy: Diaphysis

• where bone develops first

• long shaft of the long bone

• primary center of ossification (growth of bone)

Long bone anatomy: Metaphysis

• where longitudinal growth happens

• grows out

Long bone anatomy: Epiphysis

• acts like a cap absent in babies

• secondary center of ossification

Long bone anatomy: Epiphyseal line

• cartilaginous growth plate

• a remnant of the epiphyseal plate, a cartilaginous growth plate that allows long bones to lengthen during childhood and adolescence

Long bone anatomy: Periosteum

• a wax-like membrane that covers the external surface of the bone

• gone in old bone

Long bone anatomy: Nutrient foramen

• large foramen that is macroscopically visible on the bone

• supplies bone and bone marrow

Long bone anatomy: compact cortical bone

• a dense type of bone tissue that forms the outer layer of most bones in the human skeleton

Long bone anatomy: cancellous/trabecular bone

• Cancellous bone is lighter and less dense than cortical (compact) bone.

• It acts as a shock absorber, reducing the impact of forces on the bones.

Long bone anatomy: medullary cavity

• the hollow, central spaces within the shafts of long bones that contain bone marrow, which consists of red and/or yellow marrow

• blood cell production

• fat storage

• vascularization

Flat bones (not classification by shape_

• prolific cancellous bone

• bones of the cranium, the cancellous bone is called diploe, which will react to certain nutrients very quickly

Anatomical position

Person facing forward (anteriorly) with palms forward (anterior) and thumbs lateral

Axial skeleton

• central core bones of the body, supporting and protecting vital organs

• think midline of the body

Appendicular skeleton

• bones that support and connect the limbs to the body

• referencing the limbs, shoulder, girdle, pelvic girdle

Sagittal plane

dividing the body into left and right

midsagittal plane

equal left and right sides

Transverse plan

cuts body into top and bottom

Coronal plane

divides the body into anterior and posterior

Superior

means towards the head end of the body

• higher or above

Anterior

• means front of or in the front

• abdominal muscles are on this plane

Posterior

• also called dorsal

• back of

• behind

• on the back

Lateral

away from the midline (middle) of the body

Medial

toward the midline (middle) of the body

Proximal/Distal are..

in relation to the core of the body

• example

  • my wrist is distal to my elbow

Proximal

nearest point of attachment to limb or structure

Distal

farthest away from attachment or origin

Osteoblasts

• these cells build bones

osteoclasts

• These cells remove bone and help with turnover

Osteocytes

• These are mature bone cells.

Three types of bone cells from class

• chondroblast

• chondroclast

• chondrocyte

Chondroblast

• builds cartilage

Chondroclast

• removes cartilage

Chondrocyte

• mature cartilage cell

Bone is a composite material

• extraordinarily strong

• rigid but flexible

• lightweight

Bones is part ? and ?

• mineral

• collagen

inorganic mineral content in bones

• hydroxyapatite

  • specialized crystalline form of calcium phosphate

  • 60%

  • There are additional trace minerals

Organic components

• osteoid

• mainly organic tensile type I collagen fibers

• 25%

Other composite materials of bone

• water

• 15%

two major forms of ossification

• intramembranous ossification

• Endochondral ossification

• starts in fetus

Intramembranous ossification

• happens within a membrane

• dense

• compact

• older

• first form of ossification evident in the skeleton

Endochondral ossification

• combination of compact and trabecular bone