Anthropology

Question 1

What does anthropology mean?

Answer 1

The study of humans,
their cultures, and their biology

Question 2

What is forensic anthropology?

Answer 2

1. The application of the study of humans to situations of modern, legal or public concern
2. consists of collecting and analyzing human skeletal remains
3. To help identify victims and reconstruct the events surrounding death

Question 3

What is Paleoanthropology and Bioanthropology?

Answer 3

1. study the human skeleton
2. identify bones
3. analyze bones to determine sex, age, race and other biological descriptors

Question 4

What is archaeology?

Answer 4

Collecting the remains

Question 5

How many bones in the human body?

Answer 5

206

Question 6

What are the four main functions of the human skeleton?

Answer 6

1. support
2. motion
3. protection
4. growth

Question 7

What is a cortical bone?

Answer 7

a smooth compact bone

Question 8

What is a trabecular bone?

Answer 8

a sponge like bone

Question 9

What is bone marrow?

Answer 9

a spongy tissue found in the centre of the bone

Question 10

What are osteoblasts?

Answer 10

specialized cells that produce bone and deposit it in layers

Question 11

What are the ends of long bone referred to as?

Answer 11

epiphyses

Question 12

What is the long portion of the bone referred to as?

Answer 12

diaphysis

Question 13

What is the epiphyseal plate?

Answer 13

an area of growth and deposition of new bone (also known as the growth plate)

Question 14

What is the epiphyseal line?

Answer 14

faint line scene on x-rays which shows the epiphyses fused to the diaphysis. Once bone growth is complete, the epiphyseal plate is replaced by this epiphyseal line, marking the end of longitudinal bone growth.

Question 15

What are the five categories of bones?

Answer 15

1. short
2. long
3. flat
4. sesamoid
5. irregular

Question 16

What bone irregularities can be used for identification?

Answer 16

eminences and/or depressions

Question 17

How to determine if bones are male or female?

Answer 17

1. males can be >20% larger
2. sciatic notch in males (30 degrees) and in females (60 degrees)
3. ventral arc present in females
4. wider subpubic concavity in females

Question 18

How to tell if skull bones are male or female?

Answer 18

1. crests and ridges more pronounced in males
2. chin significantly more square in males
3. jaw, mastoid process wide and robust in males
4. forehead slopes more in males

Question 19

How do you determine the age of the skeleton?

Answer 19

• skeleton will change in predictable ways
• skeletal growth areas will spread, meet and fuse into whole bones (this is a process not an event)
• as adults our skeleton’s growth shifts into maintenance functions
  -later years bring a loss to bone mass