Research Paper

Forensic Anthropology and Its Evolution.

Anthropology is not only the study of the evolution of physiological and biological characteristics of humans but also the development of their societies and cultures. Anthropology is a wide field with various specialties such as archaeology, linguistics, cultural anthropology, or physical anthropology. Therefore, forensic anthropology is a subfield that falls under physical anthropology. Human osteology is a major element of physical anthropology in which osteologists can use forensic anthropology. Forensic anthropologists often work with forensic odontologists, homicide detectors, and pathologists to determine the origin, death time, and any sign of foul play (Black, 2018:1). Therefore, forensic anthropology is a process that largely entails human identification through biological and physiological aspects and it has evolved due to changes in various aspects such as technology and legality.

Forensic anthropologists use their extensive knowledge of morphology, development, and the differences of human bodies to establish, confirm, or refute an identification. Biological aspects such as age, sex, stature, and racial affiliation are the basic way of identification because they are the primary traits. The secondary traits such as body change, signs of surgical interventions like trauma, prosthetics, and scars are combined with the primary traits to confirm identity (Randolf et al, 2009:1). In most cases, anthropologists are the sort to explain a cause of death especially when there is evidence of skeletal trauma or cases of processes like dismemberment, burning, and damage by explosives thus making identification difficult.

Therefore, the process of human identification has its stages. The first stage in determining whether the remains are human. Once they are confirmed to be of human descent and being deposited recently, forensic scientists use their techniques to determine the presumed identity of the remains. Therefore, it is essential to quickly determine whether the remains are human or nonhuman as it enables in determining the commission of the crime and ensure utilization of essential police resources by preventing the investigation of nonhuman remains. However, the anthropologists may not identify the remains to a specific species but they use microscopes to evaluate depending on the features of the skeleton and the extent of bone fragmentation (Randolf et al, 2009: 2). It may be difficult to differentiate some taxonomies because the overall structure is similar. For instance, mammals that look a lot like humans have similarities with larger mammals, and the skeletal remains of birds and smaller mammals may be mistaken for human fetal because of similar size and shape. Due to inexperience, the juvenile bones and human fetal may be mistaken for nonhuman.

After determining whether the remains are human, anthropologists determine the minimum number of individuals present. In instances of a mass burial or thermal disruption, it is essential to know the minimum number of individuals represented by compounding the various fragmented and complete factors. More fragmented remains make it difficult to fully identify the individual. Consequently, it is more difficult to identify an individual represented by a few bones than the one with a complete skeleton representation. Therefore, the extent of the bone disruption is inversely related to the number of individuals identified in a pilgrimage. Therefore, a seasoned forensic anthropologist aims at reducing identification biases by analyzing every remain carefully (Randolf et al, 2009: 4). Determining the minimum number of individuals present depends on determinants such as accurate identification, seriation, and grouping of fragments.

Since most methods of determining age and stature depend on sex, sex determination is the first method of individual analysis. Sexual dimorphism depends on primary sexual features of the reproductive system such as pelvic morphology while others indicate interrelated behavioral, morphological, and physiological features which are evident during a surge of hormones. The secondary sexual features that are displayed differently in males and females. The display of the secondary sexual features varies from biological to physical and behavioral. Therefore, it is easier to determine sexual dimorphic characteristics during puberty but in the juvenile case, extreme caution must be undertaken when determining sex.

Determining chronological age remains the most difficult part of forensic anthropology inquiry especially during adulthood. Consequently, it has become difficult to determine the ages of living individuals by looking at them leave alone the deceased (Randolf et al, 2009: 7). The difficulty may be because of stressful environments, poor diet, and lack of exercise, which leads to premature aging. Other factors that make it difficult to determine age are the use of cosmetics or plastic surgery. Therefore, adolescents too can be hard to determine age by virtual examination because of their hair and clothing in adult style and display of more mature behavior. The problematic age determination can lead to a considerable difference in perceived age, and the age on official documents.

Stature is another critical factor for anthropologists because they can calculate individual height from skeletal remains. Stature is related to the length of the bone, which is equal to body proportions. Anthropologists use metric assessment to predict stature by regressing the lip segment lengths. However, body proportions vary with race and sex thus determining race and sex is critical to producing the right results from the regression formula. Major long bones are used for the reconstruction of individual stature with the lower limb bones producing accurate stature estimation (Randolf et al, 2009:8). The differences in stature have led to the application of a range of regression equations to cater to specific populations. Fully method is arguably the most accurate method for determining stature and it is getting the axial and paraxial measurements of skeletal features that add up to height. However, the varying environments may produce elements that lead to discrepancies in the results.

Since stature varies with race and sex, forensic anthropologists can easily determine the ancestry origin of the remains. However, anthropologists are divided about the existence of races and a substantial group agree that dividing the population into racial groups is not biologically justifiable. The basis of skeletal representation of race is based on the assumption that specific body features and components have evidence of phylogeny with phenotypic similarities thus showing genetic relations. The most obvious racial differences in the living are evident in the face and anthropologists study the skull largely to determine race (Randolf et al, 2009: 10). Currently, forensic anthropologists divide human cranial morphology into four regional, genetic, or social skull morphotypes. Forensic anthropologists use metric and morphological methods to assess ethnical identity.

Therefore, the four major elements of forensic anthropology are sex, age, stature, and ancestry, and they mark personal identity. However, as aforementioned using the ancient methods of anthropology to determine these elements may be an uphill task for anthropologists making forensic anthropology critical. The evolution of forensic anthropology is dynamic with the growth of science and technology as it changes and constantly keeps advancing. The rise in DNA forensics has led to a major shift in many fields since many elements can be determined in an instance without the need for too much regression methods. Once there is a subject DNA, the rest of the DNA samples are measured concerning the subject in the case of detective anthropologists. In the case of age, forensic anthropologists to determine age because the hormonal composition in babies, adolescents, and adults differ can use hormones. Forensics largely involves the use of genetics which can trace race, age, and sex thus providing a spot-on solution for many anthropological problems. Therefore, Forensic anthropology continues to dominate many critical fields in the world such as medicine, security, and engineering.

Forensic anthropology has evolved from just skeletal variation to use of biological markers like DNA and fingerprints. If these two do not achieve the identification of specific person, forensics can result to facial reconstruction, which is recreation of the appearance of an unknown individual (Mesejo et al, 2020). Forensics have been largely used in dealing with infectious disease for instance creation of a vaccine. Therefore, there is no doubt that forensic anthropology has shifted from just skeletal variation to use of DNA, fingerprints and facial reconstruction to deal with various issues within populations.

References;

Black, Sue.

2018 "Forensic Anthropology." The International Encyclopedia of Anthropology 1-14.

Mesejo, Pablo, Rubén Martos, Óscar Ibáñez, Jorge Novo, and Marcos Ortega.

2020 "A Survey on Artificial Intelligence Techniques for Biomedical Image Analysis in Skeleton-Based Forensic Human Identification." Applied Sciences 10, no. 14: 4703.

Randolph‐Quinney, Patrick, Xanthé Mallett, and Sue Black.

2009 "Anthropology." Wiley Encyclopedia of Forensic Science 

Spradley, M. Katherine, and Richard L. Jantz.

2011 "Sex estimation in forensic anthropology: skull versus postcranial elements." Journal of forensic sciences 56, no. 2 289-296.