Individualization

Question 1

What are three additional methods that are sometimes used in forensic anthropology?

Answer 1

facial reconstruction, assessing handedness, and estimating body weight

Question 2

Why is individualization important?

Answer 2

can increase the likelihood of a match between human remains and a missing person file

Question 3

Increased information equals…

Answer 3

increased success

Question 4

What three things does facial reproduction involved?

Answer 4

clay sculpting, artist drawings, and computer graphics

Question 5

What is the goal of facial reproduction?

Answer 5

to recreate the appearance of the person’s face in life

Question 6

True or False: facial reproduction only ever involved modern technology

Answer 6

False; dates back to the late 1800s

Question 7

How does facial reproduction work?

Answer 7

skin thickness is measured at various landmarks do create a standard used for other skulls

Question 8

Why error can occur in facial reproduction?

Answer 8

skin thickness differences due to decomposition,
inward deformation at point of insertion,
difficulty with finding landmarks,
lack of diversity

Question 9

What is the larger significance of facial reproduction?

Answer 9

makes the decedent real to the public; is usually used to fish for leads- not as evidence

Question 10

Is facial reproduction usually used as evidence in court cases?

Answer 10

No

Question 11

Who first argued that handedness can be estimated? When?

Answer 11

T.D. Steward (1979)

Question 12

How is handedness generally estimated?

Answer 12

By observing which side of the skeleton has the largest, most robust bones.

Question 13

Why is handedness difficult to estimate in a forensic context?

Answer 13

studies are inconsistent,
there are various definitions of handedness,
current methods are NOT more accurate then simply guessing right-handed,
not recorded in medical records

Question 14

Estimating body mass is relatively ____.

Answer 14

new

Question 15

Estimating body mass combines knowledge of ____ and ____.

Answer 15

biomechanics; pathology

Question 16

What two relavent components make up pathology?

Answer 16

emaciation and obesity

Question 17

What characteristics signals emaciation?

Answer 17

hypertrophic pathologies, low bone mineral densitites

Question 18

What characteristics signal obesity?

Answer 18

DISH, osteoarthritis, trauma to knee

Question 19

What is assessed for biomechanics analysis?

Answer 19

cross sectional area of the femur, bone mineral density

Question 20

How is body weight estimation done?

Answer 20

through the use of heigh-weight charts

Question 21

Cremation of the dead dates back to ____.

Answer 21

antiquity

Question 22

What are the five steps to cremation?

Answer 22

1. body placed in receptacle like wooden casket or heavy cardboard container
2. temperatures of 1500-1600F created by air jets, run for hours and hours
3. after cremains cool, a magnet is used to remove metal objects
4. cremains are mechanically pulverized
5. cremains transferred to urn or other container

Question 23

Why has there been an increased interest in research cremation?

Answer 23

due to the increased use of cremation in the US in the last 20 years

Question 24

What is the purpose of research cremation through a forensic context?

Answer 24

attempting to address instances of mishandling remains

Question 25

Why is researching cremation difficult?

Answer 25

the insane heat and mechanical reduction

Question 26

What are the goals of cremation analysis?

Answer 26

1. confirm remains are human
2. confirm remains represent 1 individual
3. establish remains most likely belonged to a particular individual

Question 27

Is the goal of cremation analysis to identify the decendent?

Answer 27

No

Question 28

What are the three steps to cremation analysis?

Answer 28

1. total weight (correlation exists btwn living weight a cremation weight)
2. miscroscopic analysis of osseous (bones/teeth) materials
3. microscopic analysis of nonosseous materials

Question 29

Is DNA involved in cremation analysis?

Answer 29

No! (too hot!)

Question 30

What are osseous characteristics?

Answer 30

degree of color change,
amount of fragment versus ash,
lead and calcium content

Question 31

What are nonosseous characteristics?

Answer 31

coffin hardware,
medical and dental artificats