Study Guide Flashcards
What are the major landmarks of cranial skeletal anatomy?
Cranium + mandible = skull
Orbit = eye socket
Anterior nasal aperture = nose hole
External acoustic meatus = ear hole
What are the major bones of cranial skeletal anatomy?
Foramen magnum
Maxilla
Nasal bones (2)
Zygomatic arch (2)
Mastoid process (2)
What are the major sutures of cranial skeletal anatomy?
Coronal suture
Sagittal suture
Temporal (squamosal) suture
Lambdoidal suture
What are the middle ear bones?
Malleus
Incus
Stapes
What is the human dental formula?
Dental formula – 2:1:2:3
Incisors
Canines
Premolars
Molars
Vertebre Column
7 Cervical
12 Thoracic
5 Lumbar
1 Sacrum
Coccyx (3-5 fused
coccygeal vertebrae)
Hands and Wrist
8 Carpals
5 Metacarpals
14 Phalanges
Foot and Ankle
7 Tarsals
5 Metatarsals
14 Phalanges
Forensic Analysis Stages
1) What is it?
2) How old is it?
3) What is the taphonomic context?
medicolegal significance
refers to something that has both medical and legal importance
Taphonomy
study of how organic material decays
Forensic Taphonomy
how postmortem processes affect the preservation of human remains and help to reconstruct the circumstances of death
What circumstances surrounding the death of an individual generally qualify as medicolegally significant?
Identification of deceased
Investigation of suspicious deaths
Various ways in which forensic anthropologists assess whether sample materials are bone
Typically assess if material is osseous via macroscopic examination
Most non-osseous materials require no further analysis
Other methods
Radiology (x-rays)
Histology (microscopes)
Elemental analysis (is it made of calcium, lead, gold?)
Various ways in which forensic anthropologists assess whether sample bone is human
Typically assess if bone is human via macroscopic examination
Morphological differences due to growth, biomechanics, diet
Most nonhuman bone requires no further analysis
Various ways in which forensic anthropologists assess the temporal origins of human skeletal remains
Typically assess temporal origin using taphonomy and the archaeological context
Other methods
Bicultural information
Dendrochronology
Radiocarbon dating
What is the temporal interval within which medicolegal interest typically presides?
Medicolegal interest varies, typically
less than 50-150 years old
Define and describe the postmortem interval (PMI)
time between individual’s death and discovery of remains
Highly specialized
Why is it difficult to establish PMI?
decomposition rate is affected by multiple factors, especially temperature
Describe how PMI is established in the first few hours and days after death
Initial PMI estimation (hours/days)
“Three mortises”
Supravital reactions
Nomogram methods
Describe how PMI is established in the first few weeks and months after death.
Insect developmental timings (duration of stages from egg to adult)
Insect succession (predictable patterns of insect assemblages)
Define the Megyesi and colleagues (2005) total body score method.
Total body score method estimates PMI via degree of soft tissue change throughout decomposition
Define accumulated degree days (ADD)
Accumulated degree days (ADD) –
heat energy required for an organism to develop from one life stage to the next
How does the forensic anthropologist determine the ADD?
calculating the mean temperature during the day and subtracting it from the threshold temperature
Define total body score (TBS)
Total body score (TBS) – composite score quantifying soft tissue decomposition across three body regions
How does the forensic anthropologist determine the TBS?
Based on the degree of decomposition and applying the physical descriptors from the literature
Describe how the total body score is used to establish PMI, including the role of local historical temperature data
Requires historic temperature data
PMI = number of days required to reach the ADD
the cause of death
medical determination of the disease or injury that leads to death
manner of death
legal determination of how death occurred
List and describe the standard manner of death categories
Natural, Accidental, Suicide, Homicidal, Undetermined
Whose responsibility is it to record the official cause and manner of death?
Responsibility of the medicolegal authority
sexual dimorphism
differences in size and
shape based on biological sex
What are the major causes of sexual dimorphism in humans?
Human sexual dimorphism is related primarily to parturition (birth) and locomotion
What are the accuracy rates for estimating sex when provided with the entire skeleton?
98%
What are the accuracy rates for estimating sex when provided with the pelvis?
96%
What are the accuracy rates for estimating sex when provided with the skull?
92%
What are the accuracy rates for estimating sex when provided with the long bones?
80-90%
Provide differences between the adult human male and female pelvis based on the following
regions of the pelvis: pelvic weight
Female:
Lighter and thinner
Male:
Thicker and heavier
Provide differences between the adult human male and female pelvis based on the following
regions of the pelvis: pelvic inlet shape
Female:
Round or oval
Male:
Heart-shaped; narrowed
Provide differences between the adult human male and female pelvis based on the following
regions of the pelvis: true pelvis shape
Female:
Shorter, wider
Male:
Longer, Narrower
Provide differences between the adult human male and female pelvis based on the following
regions of the pelvis: subpubic angle
Female:
Greater than 80º
Male:
Less than 70º
Provide differences between the adult human male and female pelvis based on the following regions of the pelvis: pelvic outlet shape
Female:
Larger, Rounder
Male:
Smaller
List the landmarks of the pelvic inlet
Sacral promontory
Ala of sacrum
Arcuate line of ilium
Pectineal line
Pubic symphysis
List the landmarks of the pelvic outlet
Pubic symphysis
Ischiopubic ramus
Subpubic ramus
Ischial ramus
Ischial tuberosity
Sacrotuberous ligament
Coccyx
Differentiate between the male and female adult human pelvis using the Phenice (1969) technique
More pronounced ventral arc in females,
More pronounced sub-pubic concavity in females
Differentiate between the male and female adult human pelvis using the greater sciatic notch
The inner edge of the ischiopubic ramus is more pointed and narrow in women. Broader greater sciatic notch in females
Cline
is like a gradual change in how common a certain trait or gene is across different places
Name and expound upon the major contributors to (i.e., the selective pressures impacting) the geographic distribution of skin color in indigenous populations
Temperature Regulation, UV Radiation,
How have various people and societies over the centuries distinguished human ‘races’?
Geographically
How did 16th-19th century European scholars classify humans?
The Native Americans are red, the Europeans are white, Asians are yellow, Africans are black
Describe the typological approach
organizing things into categories or types based on their shared characteristics
What impact did the Age of Discovery have on European’s view of race?
exposing them to diverse peoples and cultures and providing the ideological justification for European colonialism, slavery, and imperialism.
What is scientific racism?
the misuse of scientific theories or methodologies to justify and perpetuate racial prejudices, hierarchies, and discrimination
What impact did World War II and other contemporaneous factors have on the anthropological view of race?
prompted anthropologists to critically reevaluate racial ideologies and to recognize the socially constructed nature of race
How has the United States census changed over time?
added more categories for more people
Why do anthropologists describe race as a social construct?
they recognize that racial categories are not based on biological or genetic differences, but rather are created and perpetuated by social, cultural, and historical factors
List and describe various characteristics of modern human biological variation which explain why it is difficult to classify humans into discrete racial categories
Geography, UV rays, exposure to vitamin D
Explain how most modern anthropologists view race, including the AAA and the AABA
Most modern anthropologists view race as a social and cultural construct rather than a biological or genetic category
