Download Anthropology exam answers

QUESTION 1: You are the forensic anthropologist summoned to a site that contains a few scattered bones
including a femur, a skull, a pelvis, and a mandible with teeth. The FBI has provided you with a missing person’s
list of the area. How would you determine the identity of these bones? Please devise a step by step protocol you
will use to identify the remains.
The presumptive identification of unknown individuals from bones is a very important part of forensic
anthropology. If I were a forensic anthropologist summoned to a site that contains these bones I would
follow the following protocol:
1. Determine that the bones are human through visual examination of the size, the shape, and the
structure. If they are human,
2. Identify each bone by placing them out on a table as they would have been in a living person.
3. Determine the number of individuals that may be represented by these bones. I will do that by
looking for duplicate bones, comparing the relative size of the bones, and examining the
condition of the bones. If more than on person are represented by the bones, each body must
be examined separately.
4. Develop a biological profile by examining the bones to determine gender, age, ancestry, stature,
and medical history:
Gender may be determined from the skull and pelvis which clearly display sexual dimorphism.
Males are more robust and have more rugged muscle attachments. The female pelvis is shaped
for child birth.
Age may be determined from the teeth and the fusion of the bones. Children are born with
more than 300 bones which gradually fuse at different times to 206. Teeth also evolve with time
from baby teeth to adult teeth to teeth with periodontal disease with age.
Ancestry may be determined from the skull, as people from different geographical regions may
have different physical characteristics, especially in the shape of the chin and cheek bones, as
well as the forehead.
Stature may be determined by measuring the length of the long bones and using the Bass
formulas to calculate height.
Medical history is very useful because it may be unique to an individual. Medical Trauma which
affects the bones such as polio, healed fractures, hip replacements, and dental treatments may
be compared to antemortem medical records if available.
5. Compare the findings to the FBI missing person list of the area to determine the presumptive
identity of the bones.
6. Prepare a report which will accompany the bones to the medical examiner’s office where DNA
testing for a legal positive identification.
QUESTION 2: The 1991-1995 ethnic and religious war in the various regions of former Yugoslavia left more than
100,000 civilians dead. Many of these civilians had been murdered by militias and buried in mass graves. Over
the past few years, forensic teams from around the world have been sent to identify the bodies in the mass
graves. Dr. Henry Lee spoke about his own experience in Bosnia when he came to our school. Working with long
lists of missing people, the teams used DNA, bones, teeth and clothing to identify the dead. Investigators
created databases containing all dental records available. Once a match was made, DNA was used to confirm
the ID.
Why did the investigators rely so heavily on dental evidence for the ID of the dead?
What difficulties would a forensic investigator face when trying to ID hundreds of remains in one grave?
Evidence was collected to prove that war crimes were committed. What type of evidence do you think will help
prove this? Explain.
When exposed to postmortem activities. Teeth are extremely resistant to physical, chemical and
biological breakdown and will survive longer than any other body parts. In addition, being that many
people have frequently visit a dentist for checkups and dental work, there are x-ray records of their
teeth on file with the dental office and can be used to compare with the teeth found in mass graves.
Dental implants, braces, as well as full or partial dentures are inscribed with serial numbers or patient
names which when present, can also be used to identify the remains.
Difficulties may arise from the following facts:
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Many mass graves may contain hundreds of individuals making hard to determine the exact
number.
Long periods of time may have lapsed allowing for precipitation and ground water dissolution to
enhance decomposition.
Direct facial recognition by a living person by fingerprints is not possible. of special features (eg,
scars, tattoos), recognition of clothing and belongings, autopsy findings, analysis of skeletal
remains by forensic anthropologists
Not all mass graves contain victims of war crimes or atrocities. Some may hold the bodies of hurriedly
buried combatants.
I believe that there are certain types of evidence that points to war crimes, such as:
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Mass graves that contain civilians.
Mass graves that contain man women and children of all ages.
Corpses that are found dressed in civilian clothes.
Corpses that are found with gunshot wounds to the back of their heads, blunt force traumas to
the head, and/or their hands bound behind their backs.
QUESTION 3: A young woman shot in the abdomen was rushed to the hospital where she underwent surgery to
repair the wound. Some time later, she developed peritonitis (when the bowels leak into the abdomen) and
died of an infection a week later. The medical examiner determined the cause of death was a gunshot wound,
the manner of death a homicide. During the trial of the shooting suspect, the defense argued the woman died of
abdominal infection, while the prosecution argued that she died of a gunshot wound. As a juror, which side
would you believe and why? Should the surgeon be held accountable for the woman’s death? Explain.
Cause of death (reason someone dies)-Gunshot wound. It is the gunshot wound which altered the
victim’s physiology and eventually started the cascade of events that led to his death.
Manner of death (the root cause of the sequence of event that lead to death)-Homicide
Mechanism of death (actual physiological change in the body that leads to death)-Abdominal infection
In this case the situation is not straight forward. One must investigate if the gunshot caused lethal
injuries. If so, then the person responsible for shooting her should be charged with her death.
If however, the gunshot injuries were not severe, and the young woman died due to medical negligence,
than the hospital and the hospital personnel should be charged with wrongful death of negligent
homicide, while the shooter should face attempted murder charges. In this case, there was probably a
hole in the bowels which caused peritonitis. If that hole was the result of the gunshot then, the shooter
is responsible for creating the situation, while the surgeon is responsible for not