1. Forensic Anthropology
Pawson
PVMHS, 2015

2. Student objectives: At the end of the unit, you should be able to:
Analyze skeletal remains to determine race, sex, age, & height
Define osteobiography
Discuss how facial reconstruction is done using skull bones
Demonstrate how to determine approximate age of a victim based on their teeth
Identify 23 bones in the human body
Identify and explain the meaning of an epiphyseal line
Determine the estimated age of a person by examining the suture marks of the skull
Discuss the relationship between mDNA and bone

3. Need to know bones: Skull Pelvis Mandible Sacrum (tail bone)
Hyoid bone
Femur
Vertebral column
Patella
Ribs
Tibia
Sternum (breast bone)
Fibula
Scapula
Tarsals
Clavicle
Metatarsals
Humerus
Phalanges of the foot
Radius
Ulna
Carpals
Metacarpals
Phalanges of the hand

4. “Anthropology”
Anthropology is the study of all aspects of human development and interaction
Ex: When I worked in a lab, we had anthropology students that would sit in lab and “study” us.
Physical anthropology – studies the physical characteristics of humans.
Forensic anthropology – studies the physical characteristics of deceased humans.

5. What can bones tell us?
Osteobiography—bones contain a record of the physical life. This is the osteo (bone) biography.
Analyzing bones reveals clues to gender, age, height, and health
Examples:
In a right-handed person, right arm bones might be slightly larger than the bones of the left arm
X-rays may identify prior fractures, pins, artificial joints
Catacomb: an underground passageway that
serves as a religious cemetery.
Paris

6. Bones – are they alive?
Your bones are living tissue with blood flowing to them.
Bones grow from cells called osteoblasts.
Osteoblasts migrate to cartilaginous areas and deposit minerals, hardening into bone. This is called ossification.
Bones are regularly broken down and regrown as calcium is re-deposited.
Compact bone: solid/hard
Spongy bone: porous
Contains red marrow

7. Classification of bones:
Long bone
Longer than it is wide
Short bone
Generally cube like shape
Contain spongy bone
Flat bones
Flat and thin (ex. skull bones)
Compact bone surrounding spongy bone
Irregular bones
Irregular in shape (ex. vertebrae)

9. ♫ Your hip bone is connected to your thigh bone…♬
Cartilage covers the ends of your bones
Anywhere one bone meets another bone there is cartilage. This prevents the bones from rubbing against one another
This includes between your skull bones (sutures), your vertebrae (discs), your ribs, etc.
Bones are held together by ligaments.
Muscles attached to bones by tendons.

10. The skeleton
The adult human body has 206 bones, you will learn to identify 23 of these bones.
The skull, vertebral column, and rib cage make up the axial skeleton.
The limbs, pectoral girdle, and pelvic girdle make up the appendicular skeleton.

11. Hyoid bone
This is the only bone that does not articulate with another bone
It is attached to the skull by ligaments, and serves as a moveable base for the tongue.
This bone is significant to forensics because fractures in the hyoid bone are indicative of hanging or strangulation.

12. Sutures and epiphyseal plates
There are areas on your bones that are not fully ossified (hardened) yet. These areas contain cartilage and exist so that you can continue to grow.
These areas close at specific ages. Studying these areas can help an anthropologist determine the age of a skeleton.
One suture on the skull doesn’t close until a person is in their 50s.
Closes at 30
Closes at 32
Closes at 50

13. Epiphyseal Plates
Bones grow throughout puberty, epiphyseal cartilage appears at the growth plates and epiphyseal lines are visible on X-rays.
This will eventually close and disappear as the individual matures.

14. Determining age
A person’s age can be determined using the information that sutures and epiphyseal plates provide.

17. Your teeth Composed of enamel and dentin Baby teeth
Dentin is similar to bone
Enamel is the hardest substance in the human body
Baby teeth
As children 20 primary teeth come in following a predictable pattern beginning in the first 7 to 12 months of life.
The last teeth to develop are the wisdom teeth which appear between the ages of 17 to 21.
The complete adult set of teeth includes – eight incisors, four canines, eight premolars, and 12 molars. 32 total teeth.

18. Your teeth

19. Your skull
The skull is made up of 8 cranial bones and 14 facial bones.
The mandible is attached by ligaments.
There are cavities in your frontal, ethmoid, sphenoid, and maxillary bones – these are your sinuses.

20. Facial reconstruction
Facial muscles follow the contour of the skull
A face can be rebuilt from just skeletal remains
Facial markers are positioned at critical locations
Clay is contoured to follow the height of the markers
Computer programs perform a similar function
Computer programs also can “age” missing persons and criminals
Forensic facial reconstruction
University of Dundee, Scotland

21. Skeletal trauma analysis
Forensic anthropologists often have to determine if damage occurred to bones before or after death
Distinct patterns exist for damage by
Environment
Sharp-force trauma
Blunt-force trauma
Gunshot wounds
Knife wounds

22. Types of bone fractures

23. Determining gender: Skull
Male Characteristics
Trait
Female Characteristics
More square
Shape of eye
More rounded
Mandible shape from underside
More V-shaped
Thick and larger
Upper brow ridge
Thin and smaller
Male Characteristics
Trait
Female Characteristics
Present
Occipital protuberance
Absent
Low and sloping
Frontal bone
Higher and more rounded
Rough and bumpy
Surface of skull
Smooth
Straight
Ramus of mandible
Slanting
Nuchal crest

24. Determining gender: Skull
Is the female skull smoother than the males?
Which frontal bone is lower and sloping?
Are the males eye orbits more circular?
Which jaw is more square, with an angle that is closer to 90o?

25. Determining gender: Pelvis
If the pelvis is available, this is the easiest way to determine gender.
Differences between the male and female include:
Subpubic angle
Female is greater than 90° the male’s is less than 90°
Size and shape of pelvic inlet (opening in the middle of the pelvis)
Width and size of the ileum
These differences would not be obvious in pre- pubescent children.

26. Determining gender: Pelvis

27. Determining gender: Femur
Because of the differences between the male and female pelvis, the femur joins the pelvis at a different angle on male and female skeletons.
The male femur is likely to be thicker. This is because men tend to have larger muscles. The gluteus maximus, gluteus medius, and adductor muscles all attach to the femur.
The more muscle or stronger the muscle, the stronger the bone. This is why weight bearing exercise decreases the chance of osteoporosis.

28. Determining gender: Femur

29. Determining height
Measuring the long bones (like the humerus or femur) can help determine the approximate height of a person.
Gender and race need to be taken into consideration when making determinations.
Pg. 371 in text has a chart showing mathematical formulas to determine height for using various bones and taking race and sex into consideration.

30. Determining race
This can be very difficult in a society where there is a high level of blended physical traits.
Some differences between races include:
Shape of eye sockets
Absence or presence of a nasal spine
Measurements of the nasal index (ratio of width of nasal opening to height x 100)
Prognathism (projection of upper jaw, maxilla, beyond lower jaw, madible)
Width of face
Angle of jaw and face

31. DNA evidence from skeletal remains
Your cells contain 2 types of DNA
Nuclear DNA
Mitochondrial DNA
Mitochondrial DNA is located in the mitochondria of your cells
Mitochondrial DNA comes from your mother only
Nuclear DNA degrades faster than mitochondrial DNA, so usually nuclear DNA cannot be retrieved from bone.
Mitochondrial DNA can sometimes be retrieved and comparisons can be made with living relatives on the mother’s side.

32. Any questions??