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Forensic
Anthropology
“There is a brief but very informative
biography of an individual contained within
the skeleton, if you know how to read it…”
-Clyde Snow, forensic anthropologist
Alphonse Bertillon
• Father of Anthropometry
– Developed ID method based on 11
measurements
– Unreliable – abandoned for fingerprints
Bertillon LAB
I think them be BONES…
What is Bone?
Bone Function
• 206 bones in an adult human
• Function of bones:
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Provides structure and rigidity
Protects soft tissue and organs
Serves as an attachment for muscles
Produces blood cells
Serves as a storage area for minerals
Can detoxify the body by removing heavy metals and
other foreign elements from the blood
Under the Microscope
• Anthropologists can use either whole bones or
PIECES OF BONE to make the following
determinations:
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An age range
Sex
Race
Approximate height
Cause of death, disease, or anomaly
You will be able to:
• Distinguish between a male and a female skeleton
• Give an age range after examining unknown remains
• Describe differences in skull features among the three
major racial categories
• Estimate height by measuring long bones
Bones and landmarks to know:
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Cranial bones
Cranial Sutures
Mandible
Teeth
Epiphyseal
Line/Plate
Vertebral column
Sacrum
Coccyx
Coxal bones
Pubic symphysis
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Pubic arch
Sciatic notch
Hyoid
Clavicle
Humorus
Radius
Ulna
Carpals
Metacarpals
Phalanges
Femur
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Patella
Tibia
Fibula
Metatarsals
Tarsals
Age
• At birth, humans have
approximately 450
bones
• Bones fuse as we grow
• The last bone fuses at
~26 YOA
• There are 206 bones in
the adult body
Age Determination
Most accurate estimations from:
 Teeth
 Epiphyses or growth plates
 Pubic symphysis
 Cranial sutures: the three major cranial
sutures appear as distinct lines in youth
and gradually close from the inside out.
Investigators always use an age
range because of the variation in
people and how they age. The
investigator does not want to
eliminate any possibilities for
identification.
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Age Determination
Using Cranial Sutures
Sagittal suture
Sagittal suture completely closed
 Males—26 or older
 Female—29 or older
Sagittal suture is complete open
 Male—less than 32
 Female—less than 35
Complete closure of all three
major sutures
 Male—over 35
 Female—over 50
Lambodial
Coronal
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Age Determination
Using Basilar Suture
 Basilar Suture
 Technically known as the
synchondrosis sphenooccipitalis, closes in
females as young as 14
and in males as young
as 16. If the suture is
open, the individual is
generally considered 18
or younger.
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Age Determination
Using Epiphysis
Stage of Union
of Medial Clavicle
Male
Female
21 or younger
20 or younger
Non-union with separate
epiphysis
16-21
17-20
Partial union
17-30
17-33
21 or older
20 or older
Non-union without
separate epiphysis
Complete union
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Age Determination
Using Epiphysis
Stage of Union
of the Iliac Crest
Male
Female
16 or younger
11 or younger
Non-union with separate
epiphysis
13-19
14-15
Partial union
14-23
14-23
17 or older
18 or older
Non-union without
separate epiphysis
Complete union
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What else can we learn from bones?
DNA samples can be collected from bone, teeth, and hair to
provide clues to a person’s identity.
Scientists may also be able to gain clues as to a person’s past,
recent injuries, or the cause of death based on bone fractures
and other signs of trauma.
Damage from a hammer
Healed Fractures
Gunshot Wounds
Images: http://www.legacyhealth.org/images/Housecalls/claviclefx.jpg, http://www.sciencephoto.com/images/download_lo_res.html?id=773301768,
http://anthropology.si.edu/writteninbone/calvert_femur.html, http://anthropology.si.edu/writteninbone/trauma.html
Facial
Restoration
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQaEv5D7
Ndo
Detective’s Story:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_HaJT7O
VIQ
After determining the sex, age,
and race of an individual, facial
features can be built upon a
skull to assist in identification.
Erasers are used to make
tissue depths at various points
on the skull. Clay is used to
build around these markers and
facial features are molded.
Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company
20
Steps in Facial
Reconstruction
With a skull:
 Establish age, sex and race
 Plot landmarks for tissue
thickness
 Plot origin and insertion points
for muscles
 Plot landmarks for facial
features
 Select a dataset and mount
markers for tissue thickness
 Mount the eyes
 Model muscles on skull
 Add fatty tissue around
eyes and lacrimal glands
 Add eyelids
 Add the nose
 Add the parotid gland
 Add the ears
 Cover all with layers of
skin
 Detail the face
Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company
21
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John Emil List
“Breeze Knoll” Westfield, NJ
Three kids, wife, and mother
Late 60s early 70s
Nov 9th: Vacation staycation
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"I'm sorry that it all had to end this way but with
so little income I just couldn't go on keeping the
family together. And I didn't want them to
experience poverty." He made the same excuse
to Helen's mother, the children's maternal
grandmother. He also mentioned that he could
not be sure that their souls would remain pure in
the future, giving the impression that he
believed he had killed them for their own good.
To save his own mother from anguish, he had
killed her, too.
August 1972, house burnt down – arson
unsolved
18 year manhunt
WANDA FLANNERY
• Tabloids
• Neighbor Bob
Clark
One Final Product
John List killed his entire family, moved to a new town and
assumed a new identity. Seventeen years later, Frank Bender
reconstructed what he believed List would look like. It was
shown on America’s Most Wanted, and he was turned in by
the viewers almost immediately. . . looking very much like the
reconstruction.
Check out more about this story on CourtTV’s crime library:
www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/family/list/1.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6o6stIMtMU
Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company
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Tools of the Trade
• Tools of Anthropologists
Reading the Remains
Watch the video and then answer the questions.
1. What information do they provide for law enforcement agencies?
2. How many skeletons do they have in their collection?
3. What do they learn about a skeleton from each tool?
CT Scan –
X- ray –
Mass spectrometer –
Scanning electron microscope –
DNA Analysis –
Forensic Tools & Techniques
Watch the video and then answer the questions.
1. What techniques or tools did the scientists use to find the body?
2. What is “disturbed soil”? What might it indicate?
3. How did they narrow down the areas to investigate?
4. Did they find a body?
Dirty Bones
How to excavate bones
• What is the correct procedure for excavating
bone?
• What is the “context” of the bones?
• What materials are the excavation tools made
of?
• Why is this material used?
Caveman found buried the way females were buried.
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/artsculture/Bone-Cops.html
http://player.ooyala.com/player.js?height=384
&width=512&embedCode=Z5YTdwOn2J2QIv7g
WJ6XaBLYU7KBy_vT&deepLinkEmbedCode=Z5
YTdwOn2J2QIv7gWJ6XaBLYU7KBy_vT