Forensic Anthropology: Theories And Facts

Forensic Anthropology Forensic anthropology is the study of human remains, where the anthropologist records the sex, age, height, and clues to ancestry. The word “forensic” means to involve science into legal or criminal matters. Forensic anthropologists work with law enforcements to identify human remains or bones in a crime scene; however some may also investigate ancient human remains in order to solve mysteries. Forensic anthropology is actually a blend of the methods and theories of anthropology, osteology and archaeology and combining it with legal investigations. The first anthropologist to be considered a forensic expert in the US was a man named George Dorsey, who testified for the prosecution in the famous Chicago Luetgert Case.
When the remains are actually discovered they could possibly be connected to a current criminal investigation, or they could be prehistoric remains and may or may not be related to any mysteries. If any artifacts are found buried with the remnants such as coffin remains, they can help determine if the human remains are historic. There are a few methods to use when finding out the age of bones, one of those methods is called Carbon Dating. The way carbon dating works is once the individual dies it stops taking in new carbon. The proportion of carbon-12 to carbon-14 the moment someone dies is the same as in someone living; however the carbon-14 decays and will not be replaced once the person is dead. The ratios of the sample can be compared to the ratios of a living person and make it possible to determine the age of the remains. Finding out the age of the victim upon death is a very important part of the identification process. It is possible to correctly estimate the age of the victim by studying the way the bones look. A process known as ossification takes place as a person ages; during this process their bones fuse together and structures are formed in between them. The fusion of certain bones usually happens when a person is a certain age; this helps the anthropologist determine the age of the person by the appearance of their bones.
They will also determine the sex, Ethnicity, Stature, weight, DNA and other individual differences of the victim. They will look at any injuries the victim may have and try to determine the cause of death, whether it was homicide, suicide or a natural cause. Forensic Anthropologist can provide very useful information to investigators and can solve a lot of mysteries; however the job can be gruesome and not recommended for the faint of heart. I really enjoyed doing the research on this topic. I have always been interested in forensic science, and a forensic anthropologist sounds like a great job. I found the information about facial recognition to be pretty fascinating; I have always wanted to learn how they are able to determine what someone had once looked like. Discovering the ancient bones is something I would be very interested in; however I believe this job would be hard for me because I have a weak stomach, and I couldn’t imagine going to the crime scenes. One thing I learned while doing my research is that forensic anthropology is still a transpiring field, and that forensic science was just applied to the wider science of anthropology about 44 years