Forensic Anthropology

Within forensic anthropology, individuals can choose to specialize in archaeology or physical anthropology. * Archeology involves finding and recovering the remains. * Physical anthropology is the process of determining what the bones are. * For instance, physical anthropologists will look at the charts that display typical human bone growth to determine if the remains are human.

Within our body, there are a few distinctive bone structures that, if recovered, forensic anthropologists can conclude the remains are human. * These bones include the cranium, the pelvis, the scapula, and the humerus and femur. * The human skull consists of a small jaw, small teeth, and forward facing eyes which is unique to humans. * As humans stand upright on two legs, our pelvic bone differs among animals. * The scapula, otherwise known as the shoulder blade, fits flat over our back and has a unique axe head shape, which most other animals do not have. * A human’s humerus and femur bones house a ball joint.

Humans are born with approximately 405 "ossification centers” which is where cartilage starts to form. * The fusion of the ossification centers will result in 206 adult bones. * Through fusion, a doctor can use a fusion chart which shows when the bone will start to fuse and when they are done. This allows for one’s age to be determined.

A human’s hand has a lot of tiny bones compared to the rest of one’s body * This allows for age determination to be easy at a young age as there are many ossification centers within our hands * The older one is, the less reliable hand determination will be.

Instead of looking at the rate of development, one must look at the rate of deterioration for elderly * The first place to look is one’s skull. * Within the skull, there is cranial suture scoring. This is the process of our skull filling in sutures with bone instead of cartilage. * The next place to look is one’s sternal rib ends. * As one gets older, their cartilage will become rougher. This causes rib endings to deteriorate as they rub against the rough cartilage. * Finally, an older person’s age can be determined through pubic symphysis. * Pubic symphysis is the joint where the front halves of the pelvis come together * An age range can be determined through the state the pubic symphysis is in. * As the inner faces rub against each other, the tissue slowly deteriorates.

Male and female bodies have structural differences within their skeletons * In regards to the pelvis, * Males tend to have a v-shaped subpubic angle along with a narrow inlet and sciatic notch. * Females tend to have a u-shaped subpubic angle with a round inlet and a wide sciatic notch. * Concerning the skull, * Males tend to have larger mastoid processes, a larger jaw line, and more defined brow ridges. * Females have smaller mastoid processes, and a smoother frontal bone.

While not 100% accurate, forensic anthropologists can also determine one’s race based upon their remains. * Anthropologists will look at eye orbits shape, cheekbone shape, nasal bone shape, and if a prognathiasm is present

Forensic anthropologists divide race into three groups; European, Asian, and African.

European individuals tend to have an eye orbit shape that resembles aviator glasses. This means that the top of the structure is rectangular with the bottom being more circular.
The cheekbone structure tends to be high and forward facing.
Nasal bone structure tends to be skinner and more oval compared to the other anthropologic races.
Prognathiasm is absent

The eye orbit structure tends to be more circular compared to European and African descent.
As with Europeans, cheekbone structure tends to be high and forward facing.
Nasal bone structure tends to be more rectangular
Prognathiasm is absent

The eye orbits tend to be more rectangular.
The cheekbone structure tends to be anteriorly projecting.
The nasal bone structure tends to be smaller and more circular.
Prognathisam is present. This is when the top jaw sticks out a little farther than the bottom jaw.