Forensic Anthropology Essay

Forensic anthropology has been a key art and dependable skill to help identify lost loved ones and missing family members for many generations. The concept of forensic anthropology has enticed many people throughout the field of science and visual arts. The process of breaking down bones and deciphering clues at a crime scene to come to a conclusion and unmasking the killer has attracted many mystery loving and suspense seeking spectators throughout its works. There have been many television serials such as Bones and CSI, as well as fictional mystery books that portray forensic studies and practice forensic investigations. However, the audience does not know, or tends to overlook at how much complexity and effort goes into gathering the essential
It is easier to age a young sub-adult with dentition patterns. “The age of an unknown immature individual can be fairly reliably determined from the dentition and its eruption sequence” (Foti, 2003). All teeth pass through multiple stages, therefore, the deciduous dentition (baby teeth) calcify before the permanent teeth and fall out as time progresses. Each tooth has a unique, timely eruption pattern and arrives as the age of the child progresses. Based on this dentition time schedule, anthropologists can determine the minors’ exact age at the time of death and narrow results in finding the victims’ true identity. Throughout the story Reichs stays true to her forensic nature when concerning major case scenarios in the book. Her efforts, however, are truly impressive in her knowledge and description of her forensic lab techniques and procedures that she displays in the various
Forensic anthropologists define trauma as “an injury to a living tissue caused by an outside force” (Bayer, 231). These outside forces can include anything from bullets, clubs, axes, or large knives causing severe damage to the bone. There are multiple variances in Reichs’ work, some of which we see in the beginning of the novel with the mass murder case in the well. Dr. Brennan notices multiple gashes on the skulls and sees charred bones all around. She concludes that the victims certainly burned down in a fire, but the actual cause of death was most likely a machete or a large knife inflicted upon the victim. Another example is when she works on the case in Montreal involving a man’s torso. Reichs describes in chapter 15, on page 188, that judging from the torso’s significant chipping and deep L-shaped striations across the cut surfaces, she was presented with a chainsaw case. Once again, Reichs uses a shortcut in forensics and guesses how the victim may have met his end by “eyeballing” the trauma inflicted on the bones. Though it may have been possible that the victim may have indeed died due to the chainsaw, it is difficult to conclude the case until further analysis takes place. There may have been possible pathological elements involved in the victim’s death. The body must be taken to a forensic lab to make sure it was free of other