FORENSIC ANTHROPOLOGY – IDENTIFYING INDIVIDUALS

Forensic anthropology involves identification of individuals. As such, both physical anthropology and forensics can be considered specialties of medical law. Forensic anthropology focuses on the study of human osteology to make positive identifications, whereas physical anthropology focuses on primate evolution, human genetics, and biological variation. We focus on the study of our species. One difference between physical anthropology and forensic anthropology is the age of human remains. Physical anthropology is concerned with all ages, while forensic anthropology focuses on human remains under the age of 50. A second difference between physical anthropology and forensic anthropology is that while forensic anthropology analyzes human remains, it achieves the specific goal of identifying the deceased based on their biological characteristics and, if possible, to achieve unexplainable circumstances to determine death. Forensic anthropology focuses on differences in the human skeleton to determine specific physical characteristics such as age, sex, height, weight, health status, abnormalities, and ethnic background. One of the main interpretations by the forensic anthropologist is the manner of death, or the manner in which a person died. There are five recognized manners of death: homicide, suicide, accident, natural, and unknown. It is the forensic anthropologist’s job to avoid as much as possible an unknown cause of death, unless there is insufficient evidence to prove one of the other four manners of death.