Fundamentals of Forensic Anthropology

Front Cover
John Wiley & Sons, Jun 23, 2006 - Social Science - 200 pages
An essential foundation for the practice of forensic anthropology

This text is the first of its level written in more than twenty years. It serves as a summary and guide to the core material that needs to be mastered and evaluated for the practice of forensic anthropology.

The text is divided into three parts that collectively provide a solid base in theory and methodology:

  • Part One, "Background Setting for Forensic Anthropology," introduces the field and discusses the role of forensic anthropology in historic context.
  • Part Two, "Towards Personal Identification," discusses initial assessments of skeletal remains; determining sex, age, ancestral background, and stature; and skeletal markers of activity and life history.
  • Part Three, "Principal Anthropological Roles in Medical-Legal Investigation," examines trauma; the postmortem period; professionalism, ethics, and the expert witness; and genetics and DNA.

The critical and evaluative approach to the primary literature stresses the inherent biological constraints on degrees of precision and certainty, and cautions about potential pitfalls. The practical focus, coupled with theoretical basics, make Fundamentals of Forensic Anthropology ideal for upper-level undergraduates and graduate students in biological anthropology as well as forensic scientists in allied fields of medical-legal investigation.

From inside the book

Contents

PART II TOWARDS PERSONAL IDENTIFICATION
17
PART III PRINCIPAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL ROLES IN MEDICALLEGAL INVESTIGATION
99
References
152
Index
175
Copyright

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Page 2 - No, a thousand times no; there does not exist a category of science to which one can give the name applied science. There are science and the applications of science, bound together as the fruit to the tree which bears it.
Page 166 - Rosenberg, NA, Pritchard, JK, Weber, JL, Cann, HM, Kidd, KK, Zhivotovsky, LA and Feldman. MW (2002) Genetic structure of human populations.
Page 158 - Buikstra, JE, Eds. Human Identification: Case Studies in Forensic Anthropology. Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas, 1984.
Page 14 - April 19, 1995, the country was shocked and saddened by the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City and the resulting loss of life.
Page 155 - Dwight, T. 1905 The Size of the Articular Surfaces of the Long Bones as Characteristics of Sex: An Anthropological Study. American Journal of Anatomy 4:19-31.
Page xiii - Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is an absurd one.
Page 2 - Forensic anthropology is the application of the science of physical anthropology to the legal process. The identification of skeletal, badly decomposed, or otherwise unidentified human remains is important for both legal and humanitarian reasons.
Page 152 - The positive predictive value of rib fractures as an indicator of nonaccidental trauma in children. J Trauma 2003; 54(6): 1107-1 110.

About the author (2006)

Linda L. Klepinger is the author of Fundamentals of Forensic Anthropology, published by Wiley.

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