3D PRINTING OF THE PROXIMAL RIGHT FEMUR: IT’S IMPLICATIONS IN THE FIELD OF FORENSIC ANTHROPOLOGY AND BIOARCHAEOLOGY

3D scanning and Printing have become useful in many scientific fields over the last few years, and Physical Anthropology/ Archaeology is not an exception. With skeletal collections decreasing all over the globe and the question of preservation on the rise, it has become necessary to look towards different methods in which one can obtain important information. 3D scanning has become useful over the last few decades and therefore it is important to establish where this new technology can be of use. This paper will bring 3D scanning and printing into question and determine whether this technology should be used in certain contexts in physical anthropology, such as forensic anthropology and the preservation of archaeological remain. This research will attempt to answer the question of whether a 3D scan and 3D print out of the proximal right femur will be identical to the original. This research will examine 11 proximal right femoral ends, all of which will come from the Forensic Anthropology Center at Texas State University. These femora will be hand measured before they are 3D scanned and printed. After the final printouts are made, an error rate will be established to determine if this technology can be utilized in scientific fields that require quantitative accuracy to gather information.