The Role of the Forensic Anthropologist essays

The Role of the Forensic Anthropologist essays Forensic Anthropologists are often called upon to contribute by opining on the cause of death of skeletonised human remains. The same requires a sound knowledge of trauma assessment. "The forensic anthropologist specializes in hard tissue morphology, structure and variability. In those cases in which soft tissue has been degraded by time, temperature, environment or other external forces, the only tissue remaining more or less intact is bone. The obvious person to call in to evaluate such material is the bone specialist. Moreover, it should be not just your garden-variety osteologist, but one who's trained in the medico-legal context where it is essential to be able to unerringly distinguish among ante-, peri- and post- mortem defects, and where time since death is a significant factor" Stanley Rhine, Bone Voyage: A Journey in Forensic Anthropology, 1974. Though the success of creating a biological profile is largely dependent on the preservation and/or condition of remains at the point of their accession, analysis of the characteristics is undertaken by direct comparison of remains with standard physical, or graphic, exemplars or by the application of mathematical models developed from reference populations. The construction of the biological profile is thus undertaken in a set sequence which includes assessment of ancestry, sex, age, stature, and individuating characters. Once the biological profile for an individual is constructed, the Forensic Anthropologist submits their illustrated final report to enable them to draw together all the lines of evidence that may The success of creating a biological profile is largely dependent on the preservation and/or condition of remains. Some environmental conditions like acidic soil, humidity etc. are particularly detrimental to the preservation of bones. Other factors like explosion and/or fire can result in the forceful breakup of the ...