Forensic Anthropology

Forensic anthropologists identify individuals involved in crimes of cataclysmic accidents, when the only remains available are bones. By examining the skull and long bones, noting their characteristics and taking careful measurements, the sex, age, phenotype (race) and stature of the individual can be determines/estimated.

A previous posting to this blog covered the students in their groups as they were taking their measurements and making their observations.

In this activity teams of four students were give skeletal pieces (a skull, a leg bone, an arm bone, and a pelvis girdle), their task to identify the sex, race, stature and age of their individual. Each team then reported out their findings in class today, and all teams explained their findings expertly!. Great job ladies and gentlemen.

All the students will write up individual lab reports including each group's findings in their final report.

Claire and James listen as Abby presents her finding based on her observations of the long bones from her skeleton.

Claire explains how she used geological evidence and an acid assay to verify the location of the ancient burial site from which their skeleton was recovered.

Jaems describes his findings based on the examination of the skull from his group's skeleton as Liam, Jesse and Joanna look on and take notes on James' finding.

James and Liam refer to their notes on the skeleton examined by their group.

Liam reviews his notes on the observations and his conclusions he could make from his examination of the humerus (upper arm bone) from his groups skeleton.

Matthew describes his groups find based on observations of the skull from his group's skeleton. James on his right was responsible for examining the skeleton's femur.

Katie discusses her finding by pointing out the pertinent characteristic's of her skeleton's skull, while Patrick gets ready to present his finding based on the femur he examined.

Katie explains her conclusiond based on her examination and measurements of the pelvic girdle in front of her on the desk.

Kristen describes the characteristics of her findings regarding the skull from the skeleton exumed from the burial site verified by Claire earlier. Kailey prepares to explain her conclusions from the examination of the partial pelvic girdle from the same skeleton.

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Vivian explains how she examined the dental arch before her to determine the phenotype (race) of the individual.