“Anthropology is the science which tells us that people are the same the whole world over - except when they are different.” Nancy Banks Smith, british television critic. Anthropology is the study of what makes us human and how/why we interact the way we do. Anthropologists take a broad approach to understanding the many different aspects of the human body (site). More specifically, forensic anthropology is the examination of human remains for law enforcement agencies to determine the identity and cause of death in unidentified bones. Although being a real forensic anthropologist is not quite like being Temperance Brennan from Bones, there are many needs and uses for forensic anthropologists in not just the police force, but even in military …show more content…
It incorporates ideas and techniques from biological anthropology (the study of the physical aspects of humanity)(cite). They must know things like anatomical position, whether the bones are actually bones, and if they are bones if they are human or animal. A lot of things may look like bone when covered in dirt, mud, or even dust when they are definitely not bones. Once the anthropologist is sure that the material is bone, they must determine whether it came from a human or a non-human source. All mammals share a “generalized skeletal template”, meaning they all have the same bones in roughly the same locations: a skull, spine (which ends in a tail), ribs, and four sets of limb bones (arms and legs). (site) The shape and way the bones connect to the other bones, however, is very different between animal to animal (including humans and “human-like” animals like gorillas). That would be where knowing anatomical position comes in play. Anatomical position, as seen by the picture taken from (cite), is where the body and palms of the hands are facing forward, along with the arms being to the …show more content…
In late November of 1987 the skull of an unknown victim was found on the grounds of a Boy Scout camp in Farmington, Missouri, it wouldn't be for another four months that the police investigation actually began. (Jackson 4). In a six-day process the investigators only found about forty bones, three strands of hair, a metal button with the words texwood printed onto it, remnants of a plastic shopping bag, and a small bit of tattered blue jeans. The farthest bone from the skull was found about a hundred meters away from the original skull. Forensic anthropologists used the skull and lower jaw to make a face. Using bone features like strong cheekbones and the bridge of the bone they figured out that the body was of a twenty-some year old mongoloid woman that was around 120 pounds and had at least two children. Putting clay onto the skull they created an image of the girl using a technique called facial reconstruction. They even figured out such things as tissue depth and wigs. Using the newly created bust-cast the police were able to get a close idea to what the girl looked like and released a missing person's report. In only three short days a woman recognized the girl and notified the police. The body was then identified as 33 year old Bun Chee Nyhuis whom they had not seen in five years. From the identification of the skull the police went to her ex-husband and soon
Since the airing of the CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and the other televised series that followed have led jurors to compare fiction with reality. The shows have changed the view on the real world of forensic science as the series have a world of forensic science of their own. For this paper the televised series titled Bones by forensic anthropologist Kathy Reichs will be used as an example for comparison. In the series Bones Dr. Temperance Brenan arrives at the scene of the crime to examine the skeletal remains found in the scene of the crime equipped with one or more forensic kits. Upon momentarily examining the skeletal remains Dr. Brenan is able to determine the gender, ethnicity, and age. When this type of scenario is compared to nonfictional
Forensic Science Introduction: Someone in a restaurant has suddenly fallen ill and a mystery powder has been discovered with the victim. As the chief investigator, your duty is to identify the mystery substance through a lab. In this lab, it will consist of five known compounds and one unknown compound. Your job is to distinguish which one out of the five substances is the mystery powder. To figure out the mystery matter you will have to compare their physical and chemical properties and match them with the appropriate compound.
“This is my lab and what we do is study bones,” states Kari Bruwelheide in her video entitled “30,000 Skeletons”. Of the three resources that we were provided, “Puzzles of the Chesapeake” by Sally Walker, “Forensic Anthropology” by an unknown author, and “30,000 Skeletons” by Smithsonian Education presented by Kari Bruwelheide, the resource “30,000 Skeletons” is by far the best at explaining the role of an anthropologist. It is unbeatable because it is a video rather than just written words, and Kari Bruwelheide has personal experience in being a forensic anthropologist. A forensic anthropologist is a scientist that studies human remains, or in another word, skeletons, to try to find out information about the past.
In the book “Death's Acre”, By Bill Bass and Jon Jefferson they tell readers how they got to where they are today in their careers and how Dr. Bill Bass became famous for the well known “Body Farm” at the University of Tennessee. In “Deaths Acre” Bass invites people across the world who are reading to go behind the gates of the body farm where he revolutionized forensic anthropology. Bass takes us on a journey on how he went from not knowing if this is what he wanted to do for a living to being in a career that he would never trade. He tells us about the Lindbergh kidnapping and murder, explored the headless corpse of a person whose identity shocked many people included the police, divulges how the telltale traces and case
The show portrays that forensic anthropologists are responsible for almost every aspect of the death investigation, which does not correctly depict the role of forensic anthropologists (Wood,2017a). The method of which components of the biological profile, like sex of the remains, is also incorrectly portrayed as Dr. Brennan estimated the sex using a trait that does not accurately indicate sexual dimorphism (Wood, 2017c). Lastly, the complexity of personal identification, which is one of the most important aspects of forensic anthropology casework (Krishan et al, 2016), is not portrayed correctly as Dr. Brennan and her team based the identification of the remains on one trait that has questionable reliability (Charles & Levisetti, 2011). All in all, ‘The feet on the beach’ episode of ‘Bones’ does not accurately portray the forensic anthropology as it is romanticized for entertainment and overly simplified for a lay person to
In the town, of West Memphis, Arkansas, three eight year old boys (Chris Byers, Michael Moore, and Stevie Branch) went missing May fourth, the following day they were found bruised, mutilated, hogtied, and stripped of their clothes with signs of rape present due to the dilation of the anus. The body of Byers was found submerged in the creek about 60 yards south of Interstate 55(Crime scene or dump site?). The other two bodies was located exactly five feet in both directions of Byers body. (It was determined that Moore and Branch both died from multiple traumatic injuries to the head, torso, and extremities with drowning; while, Byers died of the multiple traumatic i...
results of the forensic anthropology. For instance, if a crime is committed at a certain scene,
In Anthropology, as the word implies, you see the physical, social, material, and cultural developments of human beings who have risen above their "place," after having been born black in the South.
The criminal justice system has changed a lot since the good old days of the Wild West when pretty much anything was legal. Criminals were dealt with in any fashion the law enforcement saw fit. The science of catching criminals has evolved since these days. We are better at catching criminals than ever and we owe this advancement to forensic science. The development of forensic science has given us the important techniques of fingerprinting and DNA analysis. We can use these techniques to catch criminals, prove people's innocence, and keep track of inmates after they have been paroled. There are many different ways of solving crimes using forensic evidence. One of these ways is using blood spatter analysis; this is where the distribution and pattern of bloodstains is studied to find the nature of the event that caused the blood spatter. Many things go into the determination of the cause including: the effects of various types of physical forces on blood, the interaction between blood and the surfaces on which it falls, the location of the person shedding the blood, the location and actions of the assailant, and the movement of them both during the incident. Another common type of forensic evidence is trace evidence. This is commonly recovered from any number of items at a crime scene. These items can include carpet fibers, clothing fibers, or hair found in or around the crime scene. Hairs recovered from crime scenes can be used as an important source of DNA. Examination of material recovered from a victim's or suspect's clothing can allow association to be made between the victim and other people, places, or things involved in the investigation. DNA analysis is the most important part of forensic science. DNA evidence can come in many forms at the crime scene. Some of these forms include hair; bodily fluids recovered at the crime scene or on the victim's body, skin under the victim's fingernails, blood, and many others. This DNA can be the basis of someone's guilt or innocence; it has decided many cases in the twentieth century. As the times continue to change and the criminals get smarter we will always need to find new ways to catch them. Forensic science is the most advanced method yet, but is only the beginning. As the field of science grows so will the abilities of the
Forensic pathologists are the people who determine the cause and time of death if the deceased person died under suspicious circumstances, whether they be violent or not. They determine if the death was accidental, a homicide, natural, a suicide, or even if the cause of death was unknown. They do this by studying said victim’s medical history, evaluating the crime scene for evidence, studying the body for any clues, and performing an autopsy. After determining the cause, time, and the manner in which the victim died, forensic pathologists make a written report on the victim and sometimes testify in court to report their findings.
Biological anthropology is broken into six branches, paleoanthropology, human osteology, human biology, anthropological genetics, forensic anthropology, and primatology. Primatology is the scientific study of primates, both living and extinct. Since we ourselves are primates it is natural that we should understand how they communicate and interact with their young. It could help us gain insight into why we act the way we do with our off spring. Our bones can tell us a lot about ourselves; even a simple measurement can be essential for identifying stature and growth patterns. These studies of osteology can help us better determine the health of the bone structure in infants. Something as simple and easy as measuring a forearm and help prevent a life threatening illness from causing a young one’s death before any symptoms become apparent.
Anthropology is the study of humans through the ages. It aims to understand different cultures and practices that have existed from the origins of mankind as well. It differs from sociology in that it takes into account humans and cultures that no longer exist.
Forensics Anthropology is the study that goes beyond the human skeleton. A forensics anthropologist can find out. How a person lived, the food that person ate, and the overall make-up of a human. The use of forensics has grown in recent years, it is used to solve crimes and locate missing persons. Snow, (1982) Forensics anthropology is not a new science. The first case forensics anthropology was used on was the Jezebel case, dating back to the nineteenth century. This case involved a person, who was thrown from a window. Snow, (1982) The remains found in this case were the skull, feet, and the palm of the victim’s hands.
Anthropology. Through the study of human beings, anthropology enables the inheritance from past decades, centuries, eventually millenniums. “To understand the full sweep and complexity of cultures across all of human history, anthropology draws and builds upon knowledge from the social and biological sciences as well as the humanities and physical sciences” (What is Anthropology?,
Anthropology is known as the study of human beings, over time and space. We often look at anthropology as just the evolution of mankind and their basic development. After taking a class in Cultural Anthropology, I’ve come to realize how much more in depth it is. There are many different aspects that we do not look at. We do not need to be anthropologists to see how these concepts can apply to our daily lives. Anthropology makes you to look at the world differently than you were taught too. Cultural anthropology, has a holistic approach that helps us to see how one society relates to itself and how that society can be taken on its own terms without bias. It helps to identify our own way of viewing various different cultures around the world and realize that the way we do things and see things may not be the only right way there is. There are other people around the world that are different from us and do things differently that we are used to or that we find to be “the right way”.