History of Forensic Anthropology

Question 1

Paul Revere

Answer 1

• worked as a dentist and silversmith
• made dentures for Dr. Joseph Warren who died in battle and was buried in a grave with other people
• ID was based off his dentures Paul Revere made

Question 2

What are the four periods?

Answer 2

1. formative period (1849-1938)
2. consolidation period (1939-1971)
3. modern era (1972-1999)
4. fourth era (2000-present)

Question 3

formative period

Answer 3

-no forensic anthropology but major research in anatomy

Question 4

what case started the formative period?

Answer 4

• the Parkman case
• Dr. Parkman loaned money to Dr. Webster money, but instead of paying it back, Dr. Webster murdered him and dismembered his body
• Oliver Wendell Homles and Jeffries Wyman determined age, height, ancestry, and it fit with Parkman
• dentures found also matched Parkman
• **first time a skeletal ID was used in a murder trial

Question 5

Leutgert Case

Answer 5

• accused of killing his wife and putting her in a vat of poison
• found 4 small pieces of bones and a ring
• anthropologist George Dorsey testified the bones were human

Question 6

Thomas Dwight

Answer 6

• father of forensic anthropology
• first to write and lecture on forensic analysis of human remains in a legal context
• wrote Identification of the Human Skeleton a Medicolegal Study
• Shattuck Lecture

Question 7

Ales Hrdlicka

Answer 7

• curator of the physical anthropology section at the Smithsonian Institute
• conducted research on anthropometry, soteometry, and population variation

Question 8

Earnest Hooton

Answer 8

-developed the Harvard List of nonmetric traits used for ancestry determination

Question 9

Consolidation period

Answer 9

• 1939-1971

- covered both WW2 and the Korean War

Question 10

Who wrote the first book denoted to studying bones in forensic contexts?

Answer 10

• Wilton Krogman
• he wrote “The Human Skeleton in Forensic Medicine” (1962)
• (he also published A Guide to Identification of Human Skeletal Materials” [1939])

Question 11

Central Identification Lab

Answer 11

-made to identify soldiers in WW2
-at the Hickam Air Force Base in Honolulu, Hawaii
-many of the discoveries in this lab are used to today such as:
- McKern and Stewart on “Ageing in Young American
Males”
- Trotter’s work on stature

Question 12

Modern Era

Answer 12

• 1972-1999
• marked by the physcial anthropology section in the American Academy of Forensic Sciences in 1972
• Another important establishment in this period would be the Board of Forensic Anthropologists in 1977

Question 13

When was the first Anthropological Research Facility created?

Answer 13

• In 1980
• Also called the body farm
• At the University of Tennessee
• the first decomposition facility in the U.S.

Question 14

Fourth Era

Answer 14

• 2000-present
• sometimes called the New MIllenium
• marked by the broadening of research goals and new techniques
• more focus on graduate education
• more push for certification and accreditation

Question 15

Shattuck Lecture

Answer 15

• the first truly forensic lecture about the analysis of human remains in a legal context

Question 16

Hamman-Todd Skeletal Collection

Answer 16

• collection at the Cleveland Museum of Natural HIstory

- has over 3,000 skeletons

Question 17

Terry Collection

Answer 17

• at the Smithsonian Institute
• collected by Dr. Robert Terry and Mildred TOtter
• started with 1,600 skeletons, but now has over 33,000

Question 18

Why do early skeletal collections have inherent bias?

Answer 18

• most were donated, so many are from low-socioeconomic backgrounds
• data collected from that may not be accurate for the whole population
• generations are changing, so its not accurate in today’s standards