what do the bones say? forensic anthropology combining the scientific techniques of anthropology...
TRANSCRIPT
What Do the Bones Say?Forensic Anthropology
Combining the scientific techniques of anthropology with the
investigative strategies of forensics to identify missing person remains
and solve crimes.
Unit 5, Investigation 3
Activity 3.1, p. 1 of 10
What information would help you to describe and identify a missing person?
Unit 5, Investigation 3
Activity 3.1, p. 2 of 10
Bones tell us many things
• Age • Ethnicity• Gender• Height• Weight• Build• Pathologies like old
injuriesUnit 5, Investigation 3
Activity 3.1, p. 3 of 10
Famous People in Forensic Anthropology
Wyman and Keep, doctors at the Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
Mildred Trotter, anatomy professor at University of Washington, St. Louis, Missouri
Unit 5, Investigation 3
Activity 3.1, p. 4 of 10
Jeffries Wyman and Nathan Keep
• First recorded criminal case that used forensic anthropology was in 1849
• Dr. John White Webster murdered Dr. George Parkman over a debt Webster owed
• Webster burned Parkman’s body, put the remains among 150 other bones in a vault beneath his office at Harvard Medical School
Unit 5, Investigation 3
Activity 3.1, p. 5 of 10
Wyman: Harvard anatomy professorKeep : Dentist• Wyman concluded that the remains matched
Parkman’s height, weight, gender, age and build.
• Keep matched teeth to dental records.
• Webster was convicted of murder. Unit 5, Investigation 3
Activity 3.1, p. 6 of 10
Dr. Mildred Trotter
http://medcat.wustl.edu/cgi/arb.cgi?0:ig1:4:wim:Trotter,_Mildred,_1899-1991.:
Unit 5, Investigation 3
Activity 3.1, p. 7 of 10
Mildred Trotter
• Anthropologist and anatomist• Identified WWII soldiers’ remains at the
Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii from 1948 to 1949
• First female to attain rank of full professor at the University of Washington
• Created formulas to estimate height of a person based on length of long leg bones
Unit 5, Investigation 3
Activity 3.1, p. 8 of 10
Long bones in your body include:
• Tibia is the shin bone. • Femur is the thigh bone. • Ulna is the outer bone of
the lower arm.
Unit 5, Investigation 3
Activity 3.1, p. 9 of 10
Our Task (see handout)
• Construction site unearths skeletal remains
• One long bone is found – the ulna which measures 28.5 centimeters
• To find the height of the person whose ulnawas found; and devise a formula for estimating a person’s height given the ulna length
Unit 5, Investigation 3
Activity 3.1, p. 10 of 10