Forensic Anthropology and Archeology Lecture Notes - LEct 10

  • Apologies for a missed lecture due to unforeseen circumstances.

  • The missed material will be covered but not assessed.

  • The lecture aims to introduce forensic anthropology/archeology and ethics.

  • Ethics will be integrated throughout the upcoming lectures.

Introduction

  • Instructor: Chris Dieter, from the School of Natural Sciences (formerly Anthropology and Conservation).

  • Office: Marlow, 65A. Appointments are preferred due to a chaotic schedule, can be in person or via Teams.

  • Students are encouraged to address questions or concerns promptly.

Recommended Texts

  • Texts are not required for purchase; available in the library.

  • "Residency Recovery" is available as an e-version.

  • Material will be derived from these texts and other sources, with provided references.

Course Topics and Assessment

  • Slight alterations to topics; repetition of soil grades and grade types in week 29.

  • Written assessment: the burial type and what it tells about the individual.

  • 1000 words +/- 10%, with an emphasis on concise, strong arguments.

  • Avoid unnecessary embellishments; focus on clear, direct writing.

  • Assessment due in week thirty three.

  • Moodle contains assessment details; structured like a five-paragraph essay.

  • Osteology workshop next week, beneficial for both anthropology and forensic science students.

  • All materials and slides are available on Moodle.

Ethics in Forensic Anthropology

  • Royal Institute of Anthropology Code of Practice:- A lengthy document to be read with the Code of Practice and Conduct.

    • Emphasizes doing the right thing for the victim.

  • Focus is on the individual, not the crime scene or evidence collection.

  • Forensic anthropology aims to identify the person and aid the police in building a case.

  • Forensic anthropology and archeology work together.

British Association

  • The British Association of Biological Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology:- Forms the foundation of methodologies used to build a biological profile.

    • Based on archaeological samples.

    • Aims to understand demographics and apply information to modern contexts.

Codes of Practice

  • Codes of practice for forensic science providers:- All forensic scientists adhere to the code of practice.

    • A special section adheres to forensic anthropologists.

    • Terms and definitions are what we find in the code of practice.

    • Standardization across the science to ensure terminology.

Forensic Anthropologist

  • The forensic anthropologist assess whether an item, element, or a fragment of tissue is human.

  • Identifying the remains:- Assess whether it's present or missing.

    • Number of individuals.

    • Assesses a biological profile:- Age.

      • Biological sex.

      • Stature.

      • Pathology.

      • Trauma.

Ethnicity

  • Ethnicity: A contentious topic, but potentially relevant for identification.

Duties and Responsibilities

  • Commitment postmortem.

  • Modification of bone:- Burning.

    • Dismemberment.

    • Scavenging.

  • Recording traumatic injuries.

  • Postmortem interval (PMI) estimation:- Forensic taphonomy.

    • Soft tissue, larvae, bloating, marbling.

  • Assistance with Disaster Victim Identification (DVI).

  • Writing statements and reports, attending courts to give evidence.

  • Use of specialties like radiologists and CT imaging.

Professional Competency

  • Maintain expertise, continued education, research, and publications.

  • New techniques: needs to be admissible in court.

  • Maintain professional certifications through the Royal Institute of Anthropology:- Operate many case hours and remain active in the field.

Activities Across the Forensic Process

  • Initial discussions, response to actions at the scene, and document the scene.

  • Examine at the mortuary office and see the body.

  • Equipment needs, procedure, and justification for actions.

Justification Example

  • Example: Explaining why boot prints couldn't be collected due to weather, demonstrating the importance of detailed note-taking.

Code of Practice

  • The code of practice includes:- Documentation of records.

    • Reporting and disclosing information

    • Obligations to the court.

    • Court outline.

    • The guidance of the booklet for experts.

Written Set of Guidelines

  • A written set of guidelines for everyone to follow

  • Everybody adhere to so that no matter who does the job, that victim gets the best care possible so their family can be put to rest or their family can put that person to rest.

Type A Personality

  • A Type A personality means that everything is done to the exacting standards that one must adhere to.

  • Chain of evidence must be followed.

Ethics and Professionalism

  • Forensic anthropology is based around that person and that all the methodology is used could be said as being subjective. So we need to understand what exactly out job is and it falls into three specific things:- Respect for the dead.

    • Confidentiality.

    • Honesty.

Morbid Sense of Humor

  • Police all have a very dark and morbid sense of humor, however, as a forensic anthropologist, we don't get that a little bit of leniency of having that dark and morbid sense of humor.

Workshops

  • When in osteology labs doing workshops, the skeletons were once real people.

  • You can take pictures for personal things, but they can't appear on social media because you're taking pictures of a dead person.

Confidentiality

  • It has to stay with you and your team.

Honesty

  • Be honest with yourself and this plays a lot more and how you feel about taking certain cases.

  • Can you be impartial in working that case?

US Death Penalty

  • In The United States, some states have the death penalty.

  • If you ever worked a case where the person found guilty will be put on death row, how would you feel?

Sexual Violence

  • If you're somebody who's been found, or if you're somebody who's had sexual violence to you, could you work a sexual violence case?

  • This is a question that you have to ask yourself and be able to answer honestly because your next steps will influence somebody else's life and you need to be okay with that.

Evidence versus Opinion

  • A forensic anthropologist puts together a biological profile.

  • The methods are what make it evidence because you're using something that has been tried and tested and approved through the courts that makes what your statement is as evidence.

  • Your opinion is what you think. K?

Political and Social Aspects of the Case

  • Political and social aspects of the case.

  • If it's a case or a crime that's happened to you or a loved one, is this something that you would be able to handle?

Beliefs of the Victims and Families

  • Beliefs of the victims and families must be taken into account; it's not about us.

  • Be able to do a job to the best of your abilities.

Danger to the Investigator

  • If there's any danger to the investigator, is this something that you want to still take part of?

  • The distress to the survivors is what your role is, not just helping build the profile.

Anthropology

  • Anthropology: The study of people in various contexts.

  • Focus on the biological anthropologists and forensic.

Forensic Anthropologist

  • Providing biological information about the remains.

  • We want to know the:- Age.

    • Biological sex.

    • The stature.

    • Ethnicity.

    • Trauma.

    • Disease.

    • Growth impediments.

Four Fields of Anthropology

  • Four fields as already stated:- The physical.

    • Biological anthropology.

    • Cultural anthropology.

    • Social anthropology.

    • Linguistic anthropology.

    • Archeology.

Skill Set

  • Biological profile:- Estimating ethnicity (a hotly debated topic).

    • Estimating the age at the death, at the time of death.

    • Biological age versus chronological age.

    • Biological sex.

    • Gender is how that individual perceives themselves.

    • Estimating stature.

The Human Skeleton

  • Growth of the human skeleton means people grow at the same they go through the same phases as they grow.

  • Human versus nonhuman.

Trauma Analysis

  • Trauma analysis: What happened at or around the time of death?

  • What they had at or around the time of death or it they had a fracture.

Taphonomic Process

  • Taphonomic process: How the body decomposes and the stages that go through for decomposition.

Human Remains

  • The context of the human remains: Is it a single burial or multiple burial?

  • Analyzing burnt and cremated remains.

Radiographic Analysis

  • Radiographic analysis is specifically with dentition because our dentists love to take pictures of our teeth.

Human Soft Tissue Anatomy

  • Human soft tissue anatomy must understand how the body works rom the muscular side of it, not from all the organs.

  • Other methods of ID need to be tested, research to make sure it is a good method.

Facial Recognition

  • Facial recognition on phones are not always correct.

Crime Scene

  • Assistance to archaeologists, crime scene and assisting recovering human remains.

  • If you don't have a forensic archaeologist excavating your crime scene, everything that you find can be challenged in court.

  • Archaeologists have a very special set of skills to pull things out of the ground and how they document all of these things that is when it goes to court, it cannot be disputed.

Practice Questions

  • What are the key areas of focus for a forensic anthropologist?

  • Why is documentation important in forensic anthropology?

  • Name three ethical considerations for a forensic anthropologist.

  • Why is it essential for forensic anthropologists to understand taphonomy?

  • How do archaeologists assist forensic anthropologists at a crime scene?