Name

Name _____________________ Date______________

Forensic Anthropology /Archaeology Web Search Project

Go to my website at http://www.susq-town.org/evans/ to find some links to help you with this reseach:

You will be required to learn the determining factors of the human skeleton that are used to find sex, age, race and type of death.
You will be required to learn vocabulary necessary for the understanding of this material.
You will be assessed on your ability to determine the factors listed from actual skeletons, x-rays of skeletal remains or from printed materials.

Activity #1- Vocabulary

Complete the vocabulary below with your OWN words so that you understand the definitions and can use these to study from when it comes time to be tested on this material.

- You may find this information from: Biology text books, anatomy text books, internet sources (http://www.nifs.com.au/FactFiles/bones/definitions.asp?page=definitions), or any other source you find that is helpful

cartilage - __________________________________________________
diaphysis - The shaft of a long bone; examples of long bones are _____________,

___________________, and ___________________

epiphyses - A part of a long bone where bone growth occurs.
femur - ____________________________________________________
flat bone - ______________________________________such as the skull bones.
humerus – _____________________________________________________
irregular bone - a bone with more than one shape in section, such as the vertebrae.
ligament -. _____________________________________________________
ossification – ___________________________________________________
radius -. _______________________________________________________
tendon -________________________________________________________
tibia – _________________________________________________________
Dimorphism- the difference between male and female; can be found in coloration of fur, feathers, etc OR in bone differences as in the human skeleton
Pelvis- __________________________________________________________
Skull sutures - ____________________________________________________

Activity #2- What is Forensic Anthropology

Answer questions below from the related websites. Be able to answer related questions at a later date during a quiz. The bold questions may take some searching and if needed, some extra attention to detail. Ask Ms. Evans for help if you can not find the information right away.

Use the below website to answer the questions below.

http://www.nifs.com.au/FactFiles/bones/what.asp?page=what

What is forensic anthropology? What is Archaeology? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
What can be determined from the skeletal remains found at a grave or crime scene?

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Can the anthropologists determine cause of death? If not who does? If the anthropologists DO determine cause of death, how do they determine that?

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What are the different types of people that are involved in discovering or dealing with skeletal remains? ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Use the following website to answer the following questions:

http://medstat.med.utah.edu/kw/osteo/forensics/

How can age be determined for a skeleton recovered at a crime scene?

__________________________________________________________________________

What three bones are used to determine age?

_________________________, _________________________ and ______________

When looking at vertebrae fusion, how can you determine age? When do the vertebrae become completely fused?

____________________________________________________________________

The sex of a skeleton can be determined from the __________________, the _______________ and the ____________________.

Compare the two skulls. List 5 shown differences.

Male Female

_____________________________ ___________________________

Look at the pictures of the femurs. The pair on the left are the front view of the femur, the right pair are the backs. The left femur in each pair is the male, the right in each pair is the female. Describe the differences you see (there are 2 listed).

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

List 3 differences between male and female pelvises.

Male Female

_____________________________ ___________________________

Using the picture below draw arrows to the areas listed above.

Looking at Caucasian, American Negroid and American Indian dental arcades determine 3 differences for EACH that can help you determine race of a skull.

Caucasian Negroid Indian

_________________ ___________________ __________________

Print the mid-facial pictures for each race. Place all three pictures on one piece of paper. Attach paper to this packet. ONE THE PAPER highlight or circle the areas of differences for each race.
To determine stature, or height, you must measure the femur and do some calculations. Fill in the chart below using the femurs given, assuming all are Caucasian skeletons.

Femur length (cm) ________ _________ _________

Calculation (length x 2.32) +65.53

_________cm __________cm __________cm

cm to inches conversion (cm/2.14)

_________ in __________ in __________in

inches to feet conversion (inches/12)

_________ft __________ ft __________ ft

If skeletons were Negroid the calculation would be (length x 2.1) + 72.22. If the skeletons WERE Negroid, what height differences would there be? SHOW YOUR WORK!!!!!

____________ ft ___________ ft ______________ ft

List and describe 6 pieces of information that can be determined from skulls about gun shot wounds. Use the pictures and their descriptions.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Activity #3- Determine Sex, Race and Age of bones

Use the skulls given in class and determine the age, sex, and race of each using the information above. List the determining factors that led you to your decision. YOU MUST GIVE AT LEAST 3 REASONS FOR YOUR DECISION!

Skull #1

Skull #2

Skull #3

2. Do the same as above but using the skull pictures provided.

Product Picture

Source Information

You must list all sources used to gather your information. List using the English format for references.

Atkinson, S.F., F.A. Schoolmaster, D.A. Lyons, J.M. Coffey. 1995. A Geographic Information Systems Approach to Sanitary Landfill Siting Procedures: A Case Study. The Environmental Professionals, 17: 20-26.

Environmental Protection Agency, 2000. Minnesota NPL fact sheet: Windom Dump.
<http://www.epa.gov/R5Super/npl/minnesota/MND980034516.htm>. Accessed on February 12, 2002.

Activity #1

- _____________________________________________________

Activity #2

- _______________________________________________________

Activity #3

- _________________________________________________________