Abstract

A human skeleton is discovered by hikers in the woods. A body that is burned beyond recognition is delivered to the morgue. Fractures found on the bones of an accident victim are inconsistent with witness accounts of the event. An airline disaster has resulted in the fragmentation and dispersion of numerous body parts. Victims of a war crime are discovered in a clandestine grave. These diverse and challenging cases all have something in common: they are all within the purview of forensic anthropology. This chapter introduces the field of forensic anthropology, and highlights the roles and responsibilities of working forensic anthropologists today.

Keywords

forensic anthropology; anthropological method; legal; medicolegal; sex; ancestry; age; stature; skeletal material; biological profile

1.1 Forensic anthropology

Anthropology is a broad field, defined as the study of humankind (from the Greek anthropos “man” and logia “study”). Anthropology is generally considered to consist of four primary subdisciplines: cultural anthropology, linguistic anthropology, archaeology, and physical anthropology. Cultural (also referred to as socio-cultural or social) anthropology is the study of human cultural variation, including aspects of social organization, subsistence practices, economics, politics, conflict, technology, and religion, among others. Linguistic anthropology is the study of human communication, including differences across time and space, and how language systems affect human culture and behavior. Archaeology is the study of past human cultures through the materials left behind. Material culture can include artifacts (e.g., tools), ecofacts (e.g., skeletal remains, food refuse), and features (e.g., remains of buildings and other structures). Archaeologists often use cultural and evolutionary theories to test hypotheses against the archaeological record.

Physical (or biological) anthropology is the study of the evolution and diversity of primates, especially the human lineage. This is accomplished through the study of comparative anatomy, and the study of human and non-human primate variation (e.g., morphology and genetics) and behavior. Many physical anthropologists focus specifically on skeletal biology, or the study of the anatomy and biology of the skeleton (which includes the bones and teeth). Skeletal biologists often specialize in broad areas such as functional morphology, bioarchaeology, paleopathology, and forensic anthropology.

Forensic anthropology is considered to be an applied subfield of physical anthropology and can be defined as the application of anthropological method and theory to matters of legal concern, particularly those that relate to the recovery and analysis of the skeleton. The practice of forensic anthropology often involves estimating the sex, ancestry, age, and stature from skeletal material from unknown individuals. This summary of estimated biological parameters is referred to as the biological profile, which is compared to missing persons records in an attempt to identify the person to whom the skeletal remains belong. Forensic anthropologists also specialize in the search for and recovery of human remains, the analysis of skeletal trauma and other alterations which may be relevant to the individual’s cause and manner of death, and the facilitation of personal identification through the recognition of traits and features that may be associated with a particular individual.

1.2 History of forensic anthropology

Forensic anthropology is still considered to be a relatively young scientific discipline, with four temporal eras that are generally recognized to mark certain periods of development (Stewart, 1979; Thompson, 1982; Sledzik et al., 2007). Prior to the 1940s, the practice of forensic anthropology was limited to anatomists, physicians, and some physical anthropologists who worked primarily as university professors or museum curators and occasionally consulted on skeletonized remains cases for law enforcement. During this formative period, there was no formal instruction in forensic applications of physical anthropology and little published research. With regard to medicolegal applications of the discipline, practitioners were either informally trained or self-taught, and played only a limited role in cases of medicolegal significance. It was during this time that Thomas Dwight (1843–1911), a Harvard anatomy professor, became the first to extensively publish works on topics that would become the foundation of forensic anthropology, including methods of estimating sex, age, and stature from the skeleton. His award-winning essay, The Identification of the Human Skeleton: A Medicolegal Study (1878), along with many other publications related to human anatomy and forensic anthropology, helped earn Thomas Dwight the title of “Father of Forensic Anthropology in the United States.”

From the 1940s to the early 1970s, attention from medicolegal and military agencies increased, with recognition of the utility of forensic anthropology in the identification of deceased service members from WWII and the Korean War. Important anthropological events of this time included two works by Wilton Marion Krogman (1903–1987): Guide to the Identification of Human Skeletal Material (1939) and The Human Skeleton in Forensic Medicine (1962). This period also saw an increase in development of forensic anthropological methods based on the skeletal remains of deceased soldiers. Many of these early studies form the basis of methods still in use today.

From the 1970s to 1990s, the field became increasingly professionalized, particularly with the establishment of the Physical Anthropology section of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences in 1972 (see Box 1.1), and the creation of the American Board of Forensic Anthropology in 1977 (see Box 1.2). Another significant work, Essentials of Forensic Anthropology (1979) by T. Dale Stewart (1901–1997), was one of a growing number of publications in the field. There was also a significant increase in research, employment, acceptance by the forensic community, and establishment of graduate programs that specialize in forensic anthropology.

1.3 Forensic anthropology today

Today, forensic anthropology is a well-established forensic discipline that has experienced a recent and significant expansion in attention and breadth, facilitated in large part by increased public, media, and professional interest (see Box 1.3). There has been an enormous increase in research and publications in the field, coupled with the development of numerous graduate programs with curricula...