Of Forensic Anthropology - Case Study Example

Forensic Anthropology The Aegean region is known for its fertile soil and a typical Mediterranean climate. The region is bounded by the black sea to the north and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. Anatolia is an administrative head quarter to the Aegean region and western most part of Asia. It also constitutes the major part of Republic of Turkey. At dusk, somewhere along the bank of Euphrates River, a shepherd was returning from the field grazing his herd of cows. With his sharp eyes, he could see some pale yellow and ugly shaped thing peeping out. When he arrived nearer, he got shocked to see a carcass with horrified look and mingled body parts. He had never seen such an ugly scene at his age of 20. He was indecisive on what to do? Soon he took decision to reach to the town at the earliest possible moment and informed someone at police station. He knew that in next 30 minutes or so it would be completely dark and he may have difficulty to locate the place when he comes back with some police authority. He put some big stones surrounding the carcass and made some calculations in his mind so that he has no difficulty in locating the place again. Hurriedly, he rushed to the police station running about 2 miles at a stretch. He narrated the scene in his local Turkish dialect. Police officer, Dominion Cock, was quite influential officer in the region. He had been in charge of this region for last 2 years and ever since he had taken over, crime rate had gone down remarkably. He was a good administrator by his wits and guts. He was instrumental in sorting out many tiffs between the local tribes. People too respected him for his justly handling of the local issues. Cock took out his official Ford Bronco steadfastly. He asked Rana, his one of the most trusted colleague, to come along with him. Shepherd boy joined them sitting at backseat. Soon they arrived at the scene but it was already getting dark. Cock took out his one feet long silver torch and focused on the carcass. Cock soon realized that something ugly had happened in his territory after a long time. He asked Rana to take some photographs. Having seen the decomposed body part, he realized that it will be difficult to identify the victim. Best thing will be to come with some forensic expert tomorrow after the dawn. He understood the gravity of the situation and asked Rana to be there whole night. Cock knew me as a practicing forensic anthropologist for last 15 years. I received a call from him requesting me to be at the place for investigation at the earliest possible hours. I decided to proceed for Anatolia as it would take at least 4 hours for me to reach there from Ankara. Next day, in the morning we were at the place. I took a few minutes to understand the basics. I could see that there was no clothing, no ornaments. I observed that body had largely decomposed and there was no facial clarity. Looking at the body parts, I could conclude that victim must have breathed his or her last a few months back. A foul stink was emanating from it too. I informed Cock that since there is no other evidence available I will have to start from the basics to arrive at the victim’s primary identity. Having removed the skeleton at local morgue, I started investing the victim. Time since Death: There was very little of the soft tissue found on the skeletal. It was surely an indication of death within a few months but certainly was not a case of few years or a few days. No skin part or muscles were visible on any part of the remains. However, I could see ligaments on knee and shoulder joints. That was an indicative of the time of death approximately a few months back. It was not a case of death within a few days either for body was mostly decomposed and no visual identity was possible. Identification of Age: Primarily, it appeared a full grown adult body. I concentrated on third maxillary molars. I could see the roots were closed. This was first indication that victim is certainly appears to be of age more than 20 at the death. Odontologist did take some dental photoimages. I did not find any dental cavities. All teeth were intact and no apparent lesion on any of the teeth. I could see all teeth from first molars to incisors were completely erupted. I made a visual look at diaphyses or bony shafts of the arm and legs. The ends seem to be fully united with femur head and distal femur. This was another sign of full grown adult with age certainly more than 20. Identification of Sex: Since there was no other evidence to identify the sex of the victim, I concentrated on the skeletal remains more discreetly. I visually looked at hip bone, technically known as Os coxa. Each Os coxae were intact with proper fusion with Ilium, ischium, and pubis. I found it with outer curves slightly broader giving indication of a female body. But that was not sufficient indication for the determination of sex. I observed the jaws that were smaller, lighter, and narrower. The transverse processes were turned more strongly backward in the dorsal region. The sternum appeared smaller and lighter. The sacrum appeared somewhat more triangular and broader in proportion to its length. Pelvis appeared broader but not deep. I wanted to be sure about the sex of the victim. I decided to apply the discriminant function analysis based on the research work done by Department of Anthropology at Ankara University, Ankara. The research work they carried out by keeping in mind the Anatolia population. Many more researchers have demonstrated in the past, in other parts of the world that maximum scapular length and glenoid cavity were good indicators to determine the sex. I measured Maximum scapular height, Maximum scapular breadth, Glenoid cavity height and Glenoid cavity breadth. Discriminant function score was calculated and compared with sectioning point. I found mean value of this score less than sectioning point. This was a definite indication that carcass was a female body. Had this analysis given me an indication of a male body, I surely had no option but to go for 3-D mapping of the pelvic region, which when compared with standard data can establish the sex of the skeleton. But in this case this was now not required. Height: Carcass was intact, so I simply took the measurement with all necessary cautions and proper unification. I also measured the length of humerus to simply check if the measured height of the victim comes to five times of the length of humerus or not. This way, I could safely declare that victim had the height of 5’ 5” to 5’ 6”. Height is not same in upright and recumbent position so some allowance is always required for that. Evidence of Trauma: I removed the dust and other foreign particles from the remains of the skeleton to check closely if there appeared any trauma marks. I could see some of the faint cuts on right ribs and the mid back. I also observed some cut at the one of the vertebra. Surely, the person must have been stabbed more than two times at least. I could further notice that the left ankle of the victim was broken. I guessed it must have fractured just before the death or in a bid to face the assailant this may have happened. However, no additional mark of trauma was noticed. Social Affiliation and Ancestry: From jaw and other anatomical details on the face, I could guess that victim surely belongs to this region only. Some traces of hair could also reveal that victim belongs to the local tribes. I could also notice some traces of coloring on the nails of the feet part, which was an indication that victim belonged to the local tribes as they have a tendency to color their nails during festival season. I informed Cock of these findings and suggested to have other forensic studies including DNA testing to locate the victim’s whereabouts. Cock passed on these details to the National Crime Information Center and other senior officials for necessary feedback to him in the event they find some clue. With this I conveyed my thanks to Cock for having provided me an opportunity to be part of this important investigation and conveyed him good luck for nabbing the criminal at the earliest and assured him of my services as and when required. References: 1. Activity: Can You Identify the Age? Smithsonian institution (n.d). Retrieved October 25, 2010 from http://anthropology.si.edu/writteninbone/comic/activity/pdf/Identify_the_age.pdf 2. Bytheway, Joan A., Ross, Ann H. A Geometric Morphometric Approach to Sex Determination of the Human Adult Os Coxa. Journal of Forensic Sciences, Volume 55, Issue 4, pages 859–864, July 2010. Retrieved on October 26, 2010 from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1556-4029.2010.01374.x/abstract 3. Ozaslan, Abdi., Iscan,Yaşar M.,Ozasla, Inci N., Tugcu, Harun., Koc, Sermet. Estimation of stature from body parts, Retrieved on October 26, 2010 from http://lib.bioinfo.pl/pmid:12689749 4. Özer, Ismail., Katayama, Kazumichi., Sahgir, Mehmet., and Güleç, Erksin. Sex Determination Using the Scapula in Medieval Skeletons from East Anatolia. Department of Anthropology, Faculty of Letters, (2006), Ankara University, Ankara, Turkey. 5. Dwight, Thomas. (1878). The Identification of the Human Skeleton. Boston: David Clapp & Sons. Read More