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Unit 14 Assignment A - Role of Forensic Anthropolgist and Archaeologist
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Unit 14Assignment A
Roles of the Anthropologist and Archaeologist
Anthropologists and archaeologists have many roles in the world of forensic science. They
can help to excavate and uncover human remains or other material such as weapons. As
well as this, they can help examine these remains and can help cases by determining the
different characteristics such as age at death, sex, race and stature. In this assignment, we
shall be looking at the ways of biological profiles, assessing individuals, and the professional
relationships from scene to court in these professions.
Role of Archaeologists and Anthropologist
Anthropologists have an important role in identifying and analysing human remains or
weapons found at a crime scene, this is because you could identify potential victims and
suspect material used to perpetrate a crime. It can help link cases and help to find if any
trauma has occurred if the death is suspicious. They can do this by creating a biological
profile of the victim, which looks into identifying the remains age at death, ancestry, sex and
stature. It can also help identify people that may be beyond recognition due to certain events
like: war, natural disasters and explosions. It’s important as it can help the courts and justice
system confirm conclusively about a victim’s profile, to link to a suspect and without their
work this may not be able to be linked and a victim may not be identified.
Archaeologists are important as they are able to uncover and excavate human remains,
personal items, weapons and other non-related objects. They can also help reconstruct the
scene of events and work at grave sites by mapping the scene, and they also document any
findings. As well as this, they can look into mass graves and surface disposals. This is
important as they can help link weapons to suspects, and send remains off for identification
by working with the anthropologists. Archaeologists can be the initial starting point into
investigating and uncovering a crime, and then finding evidence to bring it to court.
Identification of human vs non-human skeletal remains
The identification on whether the skeletal remains found at a site by an archaeologist is
examined and analysed by an anthropologist - they can do this by looking at the bone
structures, the shape of the bones, and the size of the bones. This includes cross skeletal
anatomy, and looking at the bones' respective microstructures and macrostructures, to
determine whether they are representing that of a typical human skeleton. The maturity and
morphology of the remains can also be analysed - looking at whether certain bones are
fused, can help distinguish between that of a young persons’ remains or that of an animals’.
Or the way certain bones fuse together in animals that does not happen in humans.
Identifying whether bones are in fact human or not is incredibly crucial in saving time during
an investigation, and can help determine the importance of certain remains that have been
excavated and whether they do need to be analysed further. Around ‘25% to 30% of all the
cases submitted to forensic anthropologists for identification are non-human in nature.’ (W.
Bass, 1995.) Therefore, being able to have knowledge can ensure steps are taken to fully
analyse all the bones can be important to a case and the overall amount of evidence
, acquired. A way archaeologists can work with anthropologists to save time is by
documenting and taking digital photos of the remains, and sending them to the
anthropologist to look over and determine whether they are non-human or otherwise.
Assessment of the number of individuals
Archaeologists and anthropologists can work together to establish the number of individuals
at a scene. At certain scenes like mass graves, or traumatic scenes, there may be a high
number of bone fragmentation, or incomplete remains. These must be analysed in order to
determine the number of victims, and to complete DNA analysis on the correct number of
victims in order to make a case admissible in court and to properly record evidence.
The assessment of the number of individuals can be done in multiple ways:
● Recovery of the remains - This is important as the archaeologists can excavate all
skeletal remains present at a scene, this is a vital step of assessing the number of
individuals, as if all the remains aren’t properly collected, the number uncovered may
be incorrect, which can make the evidence and records gathered at a scene look
inadmissible and inaccurate. It can also leave victims unidentified, which can cause
further grief for family members of a victim.
● Initial assessment - The initial assessment of a scene, this is when the skeletal
remains of a scene that have been excavated are organised, it can help to discover
whether there’s multiple of certain bones, for example if an anthropologist identified
there were four femurs, you could identify that there were at least 2 victims at a
scene.
● Minimum number of individuals - This is the ‘conservative estimate of the number of
individuals present based on the remains present.’ (Boyd D, 2013.) This can be done
through the initial assessment, biological profiles mismatching, looking at the
individual morphology of the bones and the colour and density of the bones.
Assessing the minimum number of individuals present is crucial as if you aren’t able
to identify individuals, it can have legal ramifications in court, as it can help take into
consideration differences in trials, charges which can be given to suspects/individuals
and can help determine guilt and innocence. As well as this, determining and
identifying the individuals in cases such as war crimes or natural disasters, can have
humanitarian impacts, such as giving families closure. It can also show the cultural
respect for handling those human remains.
Biological Profiles
Biological profiles are a crucial part of identifying the body’s characteristics. They are
important in criminal cases as they can help provide leads for investigations through finding
the demographic of the victims and also whether there are multiple. This is important as
without it you may not be able to identify victims to link to a suspect or be able to reconstruct
where the victim may have been as you are not able to identify them. The anthropologists
use the remains excavated by the archaeologists, they can also work alongside pathologists
to determine any trauma done to the body which could help reconstruct events further. It is
important care is taken when handling the remains as respect needs to be held towards
them. Biological profiles can be taken in varying ways.
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