Forensics: Chapter 9 & 10 Exam Flashcards
1
Q
Anthropology
A
the study of human societies, cultures, and civilizations.
2
Q
Biological Anthropology
A
The understanding the physical features of human beings through the study of human adaptation, variability, genetics, and
evolution.
3
Q
Cultural Anthropology
A
Examines the cultural and organizational aspects of human civilizations, while trying to understand communication methods which may span various cultures and time periods.
4
Q
Proximal
A
toward or closer to the head or trunk of the body
5
Q
Archaeology
A
Usage of artifacts to understand past human activities and societies.
6
Q
Distal
A
away or farther from the head or trunk of
the body.
7
Q
Superior
A
Upper (cranial).
8
Q
Inferior
A
Lower
9
Q
Anterior
A
Front
10
Q
Posterior
A
Rear
11
Q
Matrix
A
a material in which something may be
embedded, enclosed, or attached.
12
Q
Medial
A
toward the midline.
13
Q
Lateral
A
away from the midline
14
Q
Longitudinal
A
aligned in a head‑to‑foot fashion.
15
Q
Sagittal
A
From front to back
16
Q
Superficial:
A
Towards the surface
17
Q
Deep
A
Away From the surface
18
Q
Diaphysis
A
shaft of a long bone.
19
Q
Epiphysis
A
part of a bone naturally separated from
the main body of the bone.
20
Q
Metaphysis
A
part of the bone lying between the
diaphysis and epiphysis.
21
Q
Cartilage
A
tough, smooth, flexible connective tissue
often found lining joints.
22
Q
Foramen
A
opening in the bone
23
Q
Sinus
A
cavity in the bone.
24
Q
Crest
A
A ridge.
25
Process
a projection or bump
26
Compact Bone
hard and composed of tightly packed layers with relatively few spaces between layers
27
Spongy Bone (interior)
-Provides spaces for cellular components
and blood vessels.
-Less dense
28
Osteocyte Cells
Mature bone cells.
29
Osteoblasts
Responsible for the formation of new bones
30
Osteoclasts
Responsible for the removal (resorption) of the bone
31
Long Bones
-Length of the bone is much greater than
the width of the bone.
-Humerus, Femur,Tibia, Fibula
-Best for estimating Height
32
Short Bones
-Bones that are about as wide as they
are tall and appear as roughly spherical or cubic
shaped bones
-Metacarpals, Carpals, Phalanges, Talus (ankle),etc.
33
Flat Bones
-Typically curved and flat.
-Skull,pelvis & scapula
-pelvis and skull can be best used to determine sex
34
Sesamoid Bones
-This type of very specialized bone, named for its resemblance to a sesame seed,is embedded within tendons and functions to cover a joint
-Ex. Patella (knee cap)
35
Irregular Bones
-don’t easily fall into one of the other categories. -Like the flat bones, these are mostly spongy bone with a thin compact outer bone layer.
-They are used for support and protection.
-Vertebrae,sacrum, hyoid (tongue bone)
36
Axial Skeleton
head, neck and trunk
37
Appendicular Skeleton
limbs
38
Tendons
(connecting muscles to bone)
39
Ligaments
(connecting bone to bone)
40
Central Questions of Forensic Anthropology
(1) Is it bone?
(2) Is it human bone?
(3) How old is it?
(4) Whose bone is it?
(5) How did they die?
41
Question one: Is it bone?
Best determination of whether or not a material is bone: examine the microscopic features of the material to see if it contains structures identifiable as unique to bone.
(e.g. blood vessels, bone cell groupings (osteons), and layers of bone)
42
Question two: Is it human bone?
-Two reliable methods for determining whether a bone is human or not: macroscopic and
microscopic examination.
-Macroscopic: Visual examination of features (size,shape, and structure)
-Microscopic: Looking at cross sections of bones to identify characteristics unique to human bone
43
Question three?: How old is the bone?
-One particularly useful tool is to evaluate the context of the remains; where were they found? Sometimes, objects found with the remains give clear clues. Buttons, tools, coffin nails,
and other durable artifacts can often be dated to provide burial timelines.
-Additionally wearing, discoloration, odor, and soft spots can reveal/date remains
44
Question #4: Whose bone is it?
-DNA analysis can be performed if usable DNA is still present in the remains.
-biological profile of the person. Questions such as how tall, how old at death, and which certain relationships exist that are fairly constant in all
humans between the relative sizes of body parts and, therefore, the underlying bone structure
45
Allometric Relationships
From these observations has arisen a detailed understanding of the relationship of the size of a particular bone to the overall physical stature
(height) of the person
46
General Description
Anthropologists and artists have
long been particularly concerned with the variability of the human body.
47
Osteometry
The process of measuring bones.
48
Question #5: How did they die? Pathology and Cause of death.
49
Centralized Bone questions an Anthropologist might ask.
(1) What can be found in the bone record (e.g., type of injury)? (2) When did the injury occur? (3) What was the cause of the
injury? and (4) Was the injury the cause (or contributing cause)
of death?
50
Crime scene processing of skeletal remains
Proper excavation, collection, and treatment of bones are key steps to a good investigation. The most important rule at the site is to prevent any
further damage from occurring to the remains. This involves careful search, survey, documentation, labeling, and field storage of the specimens before transportation to the laboratory for later study.
51
Co-mingled remains
remains of multiple people or remains of
people mixed with animal remains are found together
52
Sexual Dimorphism
subtle differences between male and female skeletons
53
ossification
cartilage is gradually replaced with hard bone
during development through childhood and puberty
54
MNI (Minimum number of Individuals)
- The estimate of the minimum number of indi‑
viduals (MNI) present in the collection
-can be determined by figuring out the number of corresponding bones present (e.g. how many left humeruses are present?) (Choosing an indicating bone which is repetitive in the co-mingled remains)
55
most likely number of individuals (MLNI)
LMNI can be underestimated and can be used if there is evidence to suggest there is more individuals than discovered (e.g. flight manifest is found and there is supposed to be 100 people on the flight but only 50 we found).
56
Forensic Taphonomy
Involves the study of the decay and
post‑mortem processes of an organism. When specifically applied to forensic investigations, it deals not only with how animal and plant remains decay but also with how they may be
buried, moved, distributed, or otherwise changed after death.
57
Forensic Ecology
studying organisms and their environments and using these relationships to look for observable changes or altered patterns that can provide unique legal information.
58
Ecosystem
the living community with
its habitat
59
biotic
living organisms
60
abotic
non-living components
61
Forensic Ecology can be used for
* Estimating the post‑mortem interval (PMI) – the time elapsed between the actual death of an organism and the discovery of its remains.
* Locating human remains and determining whether the remains have been moved (differentiating burial
from death sites).
* Determining the relationships between people and specific places (e.g., if a person recently visited a particular site or traveled along a specific pathway).
Determining if a crime site has been disturbed (e.g.,
has something been hidden, removed, changed, or buried at a given place) and when these changes occurred.
* Validating or disproving disputed events
62
Entemology
The study of insect life
63
Fly Life Cycle
Egg, instar 1, instar 2, instar 3,pupa, adult fly
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Botany
The study of plant life.
65
Palynology
study of pollen, spores, and similar materials along with trace amounts of organic
matter, inorganic minerals, and soils.
66
Mycology
The study of fungi (e.g., mushrooms,
molds, etc.).
67
Soils and sediments (geology and sedimentology):
The study of the organic and inorganic matter
found in soils, minerals, and rocks.
68
proxy indicators
Proxy indicators are small amounts of identifiable material from an ecosystem that
can indicate with relatively high accuracy, information about the entire ecosystem from which they originated.
69
Forensic Ecology (uses)
a criminal can be “tracked” both inside and outside by looking for key ecological indicators. For example, an outdoor pathway taken is often limited by the terrain (e.g., hills, ravines,streams, bridges, fences, etc.), and the plants along the actual path taken can readily show signs of having been disturbed (e.g., broken twigs, impressions in the leaves and ground, etc.)
70
Forensic Entomology
Forensic entomology uses what is known about insects to answer questions of legal importance such as time of death, product storage integrity, drug and toxin identification, and the connection of crime scenes with suspects and victims.
71
Medicolegal Entomology
Medicolegal uses of entomology tend to focus on insects that feed directly upon human remains, often called necrophagous insects. This type of insect data can provide information about the
time of death, the cause of death (including the presence of drugs and toxins), whether a body has been moved, and who might have been involved in the crime.
72
Necrophagous species
(species that feed directly
on the remains) – e.g., blowflies, flesh flies, skin
beetles, carrion beetles, etc.
73
Predators and parasites
(feed on the necrophagous species, not the remains) – e.g., rove beetles, wasps,
some fly species, etc.
74
Omnivorous species
(feed both on the remains and the resident species) – e.g., wasps, ants, and some
beetles.
75
Adventive species
(use the remains as part of their habitat) – e.g., springtails, spiders (incidental predators), etc.
76
Stages of Decay
fresh (0-3) , bloated (4-10), decay (10-20), post‑decay (20-50), and dry (50-365) (days in parentheses)
77
fresh stage of decay (0-3 days)
-starts at the point of death
- intestines start digesting themselves and eventually bacteria starts digesting internal organs
-blowflies appear and lay eggs
78
Bloated stage of decay (4-10 days)
-bacteria breaks down cells, tissues and cells
-fluids start to be expelled from the body and gas are released causing an odor.
-young maggots move throughout the body spreading bacteria and secreting digestive enzymes
-wasps, blowflies, beetles, and mites arrive.
79
Decay Stage (10-20 days)
-Flesh is almost gone
-flattened appearance
-flesh has a cream-like consistency/appearance
-large amounts of fluids leak out
-maggots (abundant), mites, parasite wasps (more often) swarm the body
80
Post Decay (20-50)
-flesh is removed
-body is dried out
-cheesy smell arises caused by butropic acid
-body molds due to fermentation
-beetles state to populate since there is less soft food for the maggots
wasps, beetle larvae persist
-cheese fly consumes any remaining moist flesh
81
Dry Stage (50- 365 days)
-body is dry and decays slowly
-hair starts to disappear leaving bone
-Tineid moths and bacteria feed on hair
mites feed on microorganisms
82
entomologists
determine the PMI:
species succession and developmental
stage. The range and type of insects present are particularly important for determining the age of remains that are more than a month old while individual insect developmental information is typically most useful in narrowing down the
timeline within the first month.
83
accumulated degree‑days
Insects require a certain total amount of heat to develop to the next developmental stage.
84
isomegalen diagram
An isomegalen diagram is
a plot that shows the relationships between the time necessary
for a larva to grow to a given size and the temperature of its surroundings.
85
Forensic Botany
plants have predictable life cycles and
patterns of growth. Being able to recognize and understand these patterns is basic to the usefulness of the field as a forensic
discipline.
86
Forensic Botany uses
(1) tracking a suspect’s or
victim’s movements, (2) validating (or refuting) alibis and proposed timelines of events, (3) determining how long someone has been dead, (4) dealing with issues of plant‑based poisons
and toxicology, (5) deciding on whether a particular wooden tool has been used for a particular purpose related to the crime,
and (6) investigating food adulteration cases
87
dendrochronology
uses the annual rings of trees and woody shrubs to date the year when each ring was formed, often to an exact calendar year
88
Forensic Palynology
Palynology refers to the study of pollen, spores, soil, and other very small particles, including both recently living and fossil organic and inorganic materials. These tiny particles range in
size from about 5 to 500 µm, where 5 µm is just about the thickness of a spider’s thread and 500 µm is a bit thinner than an average credit card.
89
Sink Rate
The rate at which an object (pollen particle/spore) descends
90
Dispersal Rate
The average rate at which individuals of a species (pollen particles/ spores) move away from their original location
91
Forensic Mycology
study of fungi.
(1) helping
to explain the causes of death from poisons and toxins derived from fungi, (2) using fungi to determine the actual location
and time of death (PMI), and (3) using fungi to place a person or piece of evidence at a particular site at a given time. Fungi have long been known to have potent effects on humans, including hallucinations and death, and have a long history of causing both intentional and accidental deaths
