Download CSI: BONE DETECTIVES

CSI: BONE DETECTIVES
"Bones make great witnesses, they speak softly but they never forget and they never lie…."
—Clyde Snow, American forensic anthropologist
Forensic anthropologists are often an integral part of criminal investigations. It may be
defined as the application of biological or physical anthropology in the service of justice.
Forensic Anthropologists are often called upon to comprehensively analyze human skeletal
remains at crime scenes.
Forensic Anthropologists can often answer many
questions:
 What caused the death?
 What kind of death was it – a homicide, a
suicide, and accident or a natural death, or
is the cause still undetermined?
 Did the individual have any anatomical
peculiarities, signs of disease, or old
injuries?
Forensic Facial Reconstruction
The skull provides clues to personal appearance. The brow ridge, the distance between the eye
orbits, the shape of the nasal chamber, the shape and projection of the nasal bones, the chin's form,
and the overall profile of the facial bones all determine facial features in life.
There are two types of identification in forensic
anthropology: circumstantial and positive.

Circumstantial identification is established when an
individual fits the biological profile of a set of
skeletal remains..

Positive identification, one of the foremost goals of
forensic science, is established when a unique set of
biological characteristics of an individual
©Indian Forensic Org
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
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are matched with a set of skeletal remains.
BONE QUIZZ: TEST YOUR BONE KNOWLEDGE
1.
a.
b.
c.
d.
Forensic anthropology deals with _________.
human artifacts
skeletal remains
soft tissue
all of the above
2. Anthropology has many sub-fields; which of the following includes forensic
anthropology?
a. archaeology
b. cultural anthropology
c. linguistic anthropology
d. physical anthropology
3.
a.
b.
c.
d.
About how many corpses are on the body farm?
300
50
40
100
4.
a.
b.
c.
d.
You can tell the age of a skeleton by looking at:
the length of the femur
the number of fused bones
the shape of the pelvis
the color of the bones
5. Forensic anthropology involves the retrieval and identification of human
remains. A skeleton provides a lot of information about the deceased. Which
of the following is not able to be deduced from a modern human skeleton?
a. intelligence
b. occupation
c. ethnic background
d. ethnic background
©Indian Forensic Org
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