Forensic Anthropology, livre ebook

Key topics and basic laboratory training for beginning students

This versatile laboratory manual is designed to support introductory undergraduate courses in forensic anthropology. Usable for both in-person and online classes and suitable to accompany any textbook or for use on its own as a text–lab manual hybrid, it provides basic training for beginner students in relevant methods of biological profile estimation and trauma assessment for use in medico-legal death investigations.

Structured in a standard format for classes and existing texts, this manual offers a unique emphasis on lab exercises that align with general studies requirements and basic science competency. Each chapter begins with learning goals and an introductory section that outlines the topics to be covered. The discussion then leads students through the material, including periodic learning checks built into the structure of the chapter, followed by end-of-chapter exercises. Through clear explanations of fundamental principles, the complete medico-legal context is covered with respect to forensic anthropology. Basic information on bone biology, human osteology, and rules of evidence are also presented.

Alongside its substantive text discussion of key topics, this manual’s exercises can be used in in-person laboratory classes while its learning checks can be completed by online students without access to skeletal material or casts. This book offers the necessary content to teach forensic anthropology regardless of the experience or location of students or the resources of specific colleges and universities.

List of Figures

List of Tables

Preface

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1. Forensic Anthropology as a Science: An Introduction to Data Types and Basic Statistics

Chapter 2. Rules of Evidence: Accuracy, Precision, and Error

Chapter 3. Basic Bone and Tooth Biology

Chapter 4. Human Osteology

Chapter 5. Establishing Medicolegal Significance

Chapter 6. Sex Estimation

Chapter 7. Estimating Age of Subadults

Chapter 8. Estimating Age of Adults

Chapter 9. Ancestry Estimation

Chapter 10. Stature Estimation

Chapter 11. Personal Identification

Chapter 12. Skeletal Trauma and Timing of Bone Injury

Chapter 13. High-Velocity Projectile Trauma

Chapter 14. Low-Velocity Blunt and Sharp Force Trauma

Chapter 15. Bone Taphonomy and Establishing the Postmortem Interval

Illustration Credits

References