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Forensic Anthropology
Steve Neiswender
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Each week on Fox, and with reruns on TNT, we can follow the adventures of Doctor
Temperance Brennan and Agent Seeley Booth in the crime drama, Bones. The remains of a
deceased individual turn up. The FBI cannot identify the remains or cause of death of the
individual. What are they to do? Turn to Doctor Brennan to save the day. Doctor Brennan and
Agent Booth gallivant across the country trying to solve deaths and homicides. The show
makes it all look very exciting and glamorous, full of adventure and intrigue at every turn. But is
this a realistic depiction of forensic anthropology?
In this essay, I will dive in to what
constitutes forensic anthropology and what real forensic anthropologists do.
What is Forensic Anthropology
“Forensics is the science of crime investigation. Anthropology is the study of human
beings (Libal, pg. 11).” Put the two of these elements together, and you have a science with
which to identify deceased persons. Usually this is done through their dental and skeletal
remains. Indeed, as in the television show Bones, forensic anthropologists may be called on to
help law enforcement identify human remains in what may well be a homicide case. But
forensic anthropology goes beyond being just a law enforcement tool.
Forensic anthropologists may be called upon not only to identify human remains, but
also to help identify causes of death in ancient human remains. Many questions come in to
play when human skeletal remain or remains are found. Some of these questions would
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involve identifying the gender and race of the decedent, determining the age of the decedent,
and identifying any lethal injuries or illness that may have played a role the decedent’s death.
Identifying the Remains
The gender of an individual can be determined fairly easily if a pelvis is found. This is
due to the fact that a female’s hips are wider than a male’s. The skull also can be a key
indicator, as the skull of a male tends to be more robust than that of the female’s skull. But
what if these bones are not present in the discovered remains? “Forensic anthropologists can
make an educated guess about the sex of the decedent by measuring other bones and
comparing them to known skeletons (Libal pg. 23).” What this means is that seeing as men are
generally larger and more muscular than women, if remains are found that tend to be larger
bones or that have “large ridges where muscles were once attached (Libal pg. 25), then based
on averages, it would be a safe guess to state that the bones came from a male. The important
thing to remember here is that this would be a calculated guess. The only sure way definitively
identify the gender of the remains would be with either a skull or a pelvic bone.
The race of a decedent becomes a little trickier. However, race can be identified down
to essentially to one of three races. Using the skull of the decedent, a forensic anthropologist
can determine if an individual was black, white, or Asian. One may wonder how they can do
this. Essentially, these three racial groups have unique skeletal features that help the forensic
anthropologist to identify the decedent’s race. The Caucasians skull tends to be longer and
more angled than others. Also, the face of the skull is flat, with no significant protrusions of
note. The skull of Asians tends to have prominent cheekbones. The cranium for someone of
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Asian descent also is rounded. For a black person, the skull is more round and has a longer
cranium than that of someone that is of Caucasian or Asian descent.
Identifying Injuries
Part of the job of a forensic anthropologist is to help find a cause of death in the remains
of the decedent. The reason for this is that “[m]ost violent deaths leave marks on the victim’s
bones (Libal pg. 67). A forensic anthropologist is trained and capable of identifying whether an
injury occurred before death, at the time of death, or after death. This is done by looking to
see what type of injury was sustained, the damage that was done, and discerning how much
healing has already taken place. For example, in the event of a broken bone before the time of
death, the skeletal remains will show signs of healing. If there are no signs of healing, then the
injury either lead to or occurred in close proximity to the decedent’s passing. So what about
bones that break after death? There is even a distinction between bones broken at while alive
verses bones that are broken after a person is dead. “Living bone does not break leanly;
instead it tears, twists, and splinters like a green branch . . . Dead bones break cleanly, like dry
branches (libal pg. 69-70).”
Forensic anthropologists can also identify possible causes of death by injuries recorded
in a decedent’s skeleton. Bullets leave a distinct mark on any bone that they strike, including
the shattering of the bone or powder from the gunshot if fired close enough to the victim.
Knives can leave markings that indicate the type of knife used in the attack on the decedent.
Blunt objects, too, can leave an indelible imprint on the victim, showing an injury sufficient to
cause death.
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Some Interesting Forensic Anthropological Finds
Solving modern day crimes is fascinating and important, without a doubt. However,
forensic anthropologists have helped put together stories of the past as well. King Phillip II of
Macedonia, father of Alexander the Great, is one such story that we have gleaned information
of through the work of a forensic anthropologist. The remains of King Phillip II were discovered
in 1977. Despite the remains bearing no indications of the individual’s identity, the manner of
burial, coupled with wounds to the skull of the decedent were sufficient for Richard Neave to
identify the remains as belonging to the once Macedonian king. Neave was also able to use the
skull, as well as historical accounts of an injury to King Phillip’s right eye, to exact a facial
reconstruction of what King Phillip II of Macedonia looked like at the time of his death.
The Russian Tsar Ivan IV, also known as Ivan the Terrible, is another face that we can
now put to a name thanks to the work of a forensic anthropologist Mikhail Gerasimov. One of
the interesting things that was learned from the remains of Tsar Ivan IV was that rather than
being healthy and slender as depicted in films, he was likely very obese, and his bones indicated
that he suffered from arthritis.
Conclusion
While we can see that real life forensic anthropology may not be as exciting or
adventurous as we see in television, it is clear that we can learn quite a bit from the science.
We can see that a forensic anthropologist can help law enforcement to identify a victim as well
as a possible cause of death. We also see that forensic anthropologists can put a face to the
remains of our ancestors and other historical figures. We see that they can tell us what kind of
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life the individual may have lived. What kind of nutrition the individual had during their
lifetime. They can tell us of pains and traumas that the decedent may have lived with. In short,
Bones may embellish the story behind what a forensic anthropologist does. In fact, other than
the aspect of Dr. Brennan being in harm’s way while doing her job function, Bones does give an
accurate idea as to what a forensic anthropologist does.
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Bibliography
Libal, Angela. Forensic Anthropology. Pennsylvania: Harding House Publishing Service, Inc., 2006.
Robert Jurmain, Lynn Kilgore, Wenda Trevathan. Essentials of Physical Anthropology. Belmont: Cengage
Learning, 2013.
Unkown. http://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2008-04-04/608464/. 4 April 2008. 4 August 2013.
Wilson, Ian. Past Lives: Unlocking the Secrets of Our Ancestors. London: Cassell & Co, 2001.
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