Forensic archaeology

During the invasive stage of an archaeological investigation, both professions apply archaeological theories and techniques, which includes anything from understanding depositional relationships to stratigraphy. What can set forensic archaeology apart in this stage of work though is the necessity of flexibility in applying archaeological techniques to body recovery. One example in which flexibility becomes more pertinent in a forensic investigation is in the case where a girl’s body had to be recovered from a septic tank, thus hindering normal archaeological methods of recovering the body (Schultz and Dupras, 2008). Another characteristic of burial excavation that sets forensic archaeology apart from conventional archaeology is in how a grave…

Introduction Forensic anthropologists use the skeletal system to identify remains through different methods. In this paper, I will discuss stature and sex primarily in regards to the elements and methods that can be used to determine them, along with the circumstance of their use and the debates surrounding their use. In regards to stature sex determination, different methods have been used in biological anthropology including morphological, statistical, and metric analysis. Each of these…

The title “Giving Faces to the Lost,” has both literal and figurative meaning. In this title we found out that forensic anthropologists literally do reconstruct a new face from the skull. The artist tries to get it as accurately as possible using clues from the skull, crime scene, and their knowledge of anatomy. Figuratively they give them a figurative face. This would include a story, a face, an identity. When forensic anthropologists reconstruct a face they are literally giving the…

administration. However, my interests in the justice system along with my background in Anthropology conflicted with that goal of working in a museum setting until I found that I could have a career involving both of my areas of study. My experiences both personal and academic have made me consider a different career choice which allows me to work for the government with my Anthropology background as a forensic anthropologist. Growing up in a small town located in central Minnesota was very…

Agency Theory in Archaeology Contemporary archaeological inquiry has situated itself under the umbrella of anthropology, an open marriage to many different ways of analyzing material culture; as it gives insight to both the physical world, as well as the social-cultural world. In this paper, I will discuss some of the beginnings to this union, and specifically the theory of agency as it relates to archaeological analysis. I enter into the debate among archaeology scholars by proposing that the…

Forensic Anthropology A forensic anthropologist is a person who works with different law enforcement agencies to identify and evaluate skeletal evidence; their job consists of studying bones (the field is known as osteology) and they profile the subjects by accumulating information that can determine the age (at death), the gender, and the physical condition of the remains. Forensic anthropologists have a multitude of benefits and challenges, but the reward of helping give the remains their…

Ruth Brennan’s remains were found in an unmarked grave by grave diggers on the edge of a cemetery and placed in evidence bags by police who sent them to coroner’s office. The coroner did not find any signs of foul play and later sent the unidentified skull, personal contents, and soil samples to forensic anthropologists (Fox Film Corporation, 2006). According to Byers (2011), recovery efforts by police and untrained workers such as those applied in this case create difficulty because vital…

Did you know that forensic anthropologists can tell you the age, sex, gender, race and cause of death all by examining the skeletal remains of a deceased individual? Well, it’s true! Forensic Anthropology may be a field that is relatively new to the criminal justice world, but new or not, it sure does add significant value to any investigation having to do with unidentifiable remains. The world of forensic anthropology is known by few, but the community is a very well educated and close-knit…

organization of past societies, the manner in which people once made and used tools such as technology, how people thought about the world and each other, the nature of pre-modern environments, and the processes that affect the formation of sites (Skibo, James M., Michael W. Graves, and Miriam T. Stark, 2007). Archaeology offers a unique perspective on human history and culture that has contributed greatly to our understanding of both, the ancient and the recent past. Archaeology helps us…

Anthropology is the education of humans. Through the study of anthropology, our goal is to better understand human culture and the evolutionary aspects of human biology. Within the training of anthropology, there are four major subfields. These subfields are: Linguistic Anthropology, Cultural Anthropology, Archaeology, and Physical (Biological) Anthropology. This paper will be informing us on these four subfields of anthropology so that we may have a healthier understanding of each one.…