Forensic Anthropology

1. Forensic Anthropology Chapter 9

2. Burn barrel evidence links suspect to murder • Four days passed before 25 year old Teresa Halback was reported missing. Teresa, a photographer working for the Auto Trader Magazine, spent much time drinv across easter Wisconsin in her 1999 Toyota RAV 4 taking pictures of old cars. On Friday, October 31, 2005, her last stop was at the Avery Auto Salvage yard in Gobson, near Lake Michigan. She was there to meet a co-owner Steven Avery and to take pictures of a Plymouth Voyager minivan he had for sale

3. …continued • The police knew Steven and his brothers from earlier encounters. Recently in a very public trial, Steven was convicted of rape and attempted murder and then released as innocent when DNA evidence pointed to another man. He filed a $36 million lawsuit against the state for wrongful conviction. When the police showed up Monday afternoon after tracing Teresa’s movement to his salvage yard, he was “being set up because of his lawsuit.”

4. Continued… • In the yard, officers found a “burn barrel” with remains of a camera, cell phone, clothes, teeth, and bones. A team of forensic anthropologists were called to investigate, and they determined that the remains were of an adult human female. Damage to some of the bones also suggested the body had been mutilated. • When Steven’s nephew confessed to participating in the crime, Steven was arrested on numerous charges involving Teresa’s death. Do the bones in the barrel and the account of a 16 year old tell the same story? Will they convict a man who still maintains his innocence?

5. Introduction • Analyzing bones can help ID victim or suspect • If bone found in association with suspect, ID bones can link suspect to crime • Age, sex, height, race, and background can be revealed in bone analysis • Reveal events before or after death…help construct a crime

6. Historical Development • Anthropology: the scientific study of all aspects of human development and intereaction • Tools, language, traditions, social interactions • Forensic anthropology: studies physical identifying characteristics on the remains of an individual • Show sex, race, height, physical health

7. History of anthropology • In Europe in 1800’s, origins of the races of humans were debated. Used skull measurements to differentiate…laid the framework for today’s knowledge • Luetgert murder case of 1897 accused a sausage maker for killing his wife and boiling her body. Remains in factory appeared to be fragments of wife’s skull, finger, and arm. • 1931, FBI opened 1st crime lab & Smithsonian Institution became a working partner in ID of human remains

8. Historical development • 1939, William Krogman published Guide to the Identication of Human Skeletal Remains • Remains of soldiers of WWII were identified using anthropologic techniques • New technique in DNA recently found in mitochondria of cells have been used to analyze skeletons of Nicholas and Alexander Romanov

9. Did you know? • The founder of modern criminology, Dr. CesareLombroso, claimed to be able to identify people with criminal tendencies based on physical characteristics, including head size and the distribution and abundance of facial wrinkles and eye defects. His theories were later proven wrong

10. Characteristics of Bone • Our bones are alive! • Bones carry out cellular respiration and consume energy like any other living cells • Inside of bones is tissue = marrow- where blood cells are made • Bones are regulated by hormones that affect calcium in the blood and the hard part of our bones • Since bones are alive.. Capable of growth and repair

11. Did you know? • Bones can reveal if a person had tuberculosis, arthritis, and leprosy, as well as iron and vitamin D deficiency. Although long healed, a record of any broken bones can be detected.

12. Development of bone • Bones originate from osteoblasts- cells that migrate to the centers of cartilage production and deposit minerals (CaPO4) that harden to form bone • Ossification- begins in 1st few weeks of pregnancy • Outline of skeleton has formed and visible through x-ray by 8th week of pregnancy • Perisoteum: protective membrane of nerves and blood vessels covers surface of bone- keeps bones moist and aids in repair of injuries

13. Development of bones • Bone is constantly deposited, broken down, and replaced • When bone is broken, blood vessels at the area increase Calcium phosphate deposits to help heal • Newly trapped osteoblasts (osteocytes) form the new bone

14. development • Osteoclasts: dissolves bone • As bones grow, need to be reshaped • Osteoclast cells secrete enzymes that hep dissolve certain areas of bone • Maintain homeostasis • Ca, mineral that is vital to normal metabolism, may be borrowed from bone when low levels in blood • Osteoclasts dissolve bone and release Ca to the blood • Low Ca nutrition results in osteoporosis • Osteoclasts also remove cellular wastes and debris • Secrete enzymes to remove injured/damaged bone so new healthy bone can grow

16. Number of bones • How many bones does the human body have? • 206? • Babies are bone with over 450 bones • Not fully developed • They fuse together as the human grow older

17. How bones connect • Joint: location where bones meet (articulate) • 3 kinds of connective tissue • Cartilage: wraps end of bone for protection and keep from scraping against each other • Ligaments: bands of tissue connected together 2 or more boes • Tendons: connect muscle to bone

18. How bones connect Cartilage Ligaments

19. How bones connect Tendon

20. 5 Central Questions • Is it bone? • Is it human? • How old is the bone? • Whose bone is it? • Biological profile • How did they die? • Pathology and Cause of death

21. Is it bone? • Bone, tooth, other hard material • Compare size, shape, structure • Compact vs spongy bone • joints? Cartilage? Processes (projections) • Examine microscopic features of the material • Osteon, blood vessels, layers of bone

22. Is it human? • If bone, is it human bone? • Macroscopic and microscopic examination • Bear vs human - often mistakes • Pigs, dogs, sheep bones • Size, shape, overall visual • Fragments hard to decipher!

23. Microscopic difference

24. How old is the bone? • Bones can remain intact for centuries! • Accidental discoveries…neglected burial sites or non-marked sites • Not for crimes but for legal ownership of land… • Buttons, tools, coffin nails can be dated • Traditions (skulls had green stain- due to wrapping skull with cloth and a copper clip- copper oxidized) • Vegetation growing in bone • Presence of soft tissue • Presence of insect life around remains

25. Whose bone is it? • Recent human bone? • DNA profiling- rarely used • Lack of known profile to compare DNA with • Create a biological profile • How tall • How old • Which sex

26. Aging of bone • Bones are being produced and broken down throughout a lifetime • Bones increase in size bc children build more bones at a faster rate than breaking down • After 30 years- bones deteriorate faster than built. • Process decrease with exercise. • Without exercise, bones become frail and less dense and easily broken down later in life

27. Aging of bone • Osteoporosis: at risk of breaking bones bc bones have lost Ca and are porous • Vertebrae loses Ca, collapse, and give people a hunched appearance • Old people shrink- due to vertebrae collapsing • Number of bones and conditition tell age, health, and if there was enough Ca in food

28. What bones can tell us • Osteobiography: the story of a life told by the bones • Bones contain a record of physical life • Age, sex, race, approximate height, and health • Lost of bone density, poor teeth, or signs of arthritis : nutritional deficiencies and disease • Bones of a right arm of a right handed person will be slightly larger than bones in the left arm • If a person worked physically hard, bones = denser • Some sports show wear & tear on joints & size of bones • X ray during an autopsy would show previous fractures, artificial joints, and pins

29. Distinguish male from female • Overall female skeleton appears smoother (gracile)and less knobby than male (robust) • Male: thicker, rougher, very bumby • Bc of hormones, muscles are more developed…require stronger attachment sites, surface of bone is thicker, creating appearance of rough and bumpy area • Knees- bones of knees are more obvious than other areas

30. skull • See figures 13-8 and 13-9, 13-10 and 13-11 • Male: skull is more massive and bumpier • Frontal bone is low and sloping • Eye orbits are square • Jaw = square with a 90 d angle • Square chin • Female: • frontal bone is higher and more rounded • Eye orbits are more circular • Lower jaw is sloped, angle greater than 90 • Round chin or v shaped

31. skull • Occipital protuberance (bony knob on male skull) = attachment site for male muscles and tendons of the neck • Male muscles are larger than those in women’s neck, area of attachment is thicker… creating that protuberance on male skull

32. pelvis • Easiest method to distinguish male and female skeletons • Compare the following: (figure 13-15) • sub pubic angle (figure 13-13) • Length, width, shape, and angle of the sacrum (figure 13-14) • Width of the ileum • Angle of the sciatic notch • Female: surface of pelvis will have scarring if she had borne kids- at pubis symphysisbc during the 4th month of pregnancy, hormones are released that soften the tendons in the pelvic area to accommodate the developing fetus. Scars are seen in pubis symphysis (cartilaginous area where the bones meet) • See figure 13-12

33. Thigh bones • The thigh bone (femur) gives info for gender • Angle of femur in relation to the pelvis is greater in females and straighter in males • Male femur is thicker than that of a female

34. How to distinguish age • Look at particular bones and by looking at the presence of absence of cartilage • Not all bones reach maturity at the same time

35. Suture Marks • Zigzag appearance found on skull where bones meet • Soft tissue, like soft spot on baby’s skull (frontanel) gradually becomes ossified (hardened) • Suture marks slowly disappear as bones mature, appears more smooth • 3 main suture marks (figure 13-17)

36. Cartilaginous Lines • Babies are born with 450 bones 206 bones • Cartilage replaced with hard, compact bone, a cartilaginous line is visible (epiphysis) • When cartilage is replaced, the line disappears • Age varies for this process • Presence/absence of these cartilaginous lines can be use to approximate age

37. Long Bones • When the head of a long bone, like femur and humerus has totally fused to its shaft, indicates age • See figure 13-19 • Fusing occurs at different times with different bones, this information can be used to approximate age

38. How to estimate height • Measuring humerus or femur can help determine the approx. height • Different for males and females and different races • If race and sex on individual is known, calculation of height will be more accurate (see figure 13-20)

39. Did you know? • By examining Roman skeletons, archeolgists determined that Roman males were 5’7 on average and Roman females were 5’3 on average. The average height in the United States today is 5’9 for males and a little less than 5’4 for females

40. How to distinguish race • Difficult to complete due to intermarriages, physical traits have blended and this distinction is losing its significance • Shape of the eye sockets • Absence or presence of a nasal spine • Measurements of the nasal index (ratio of the width of the nasal opening to the height of the opening, multiplied by 100) • Prognathism (the projection of the upper jaw, maxilla, beyond the lower jaw) • Width of the face • Angulation of the jaw and face • See figure 13-21

41. What else can be seen with bones? • Right or left handed • Diet and nutrition • Lack of vitamin D or calcium • Disease • Genetic disorders • Osteoporosis, arthritis, scoliosis, osteogenesisimperfecta, previous fractures, work or sports, surgical implants, artificial joints (w/ code # stamped), pins, childbirth

42. Facial Reconstruction • the exact size and shape of bones not only vary from person to person, but also the overall shape and size of the muscles and tissues that lay on top of bones • It should be possible to rebuild a face from skeleton up

43. Facial Reconstruction • In 1895, Wilhelm His used skull of Johann Sebastian Bach in attempt to reconstruct face in clay • He took measurements of cadavers tissues… method is basis of facial reconstruction today

44. Facial reconstruction • Victims of explosions are blunt force trauma do not have enough bone structure in place to help ID • Facial markers are placed at key places on face, and clay is contoured to follow the height of the markers • King Tutankhamen

45. Facial reconstruction • Faces (Interquest) performs computerized facial reconstruction • Investigators generate an image of the skull on the computer based on actual measurements, features can be deleted, and easily modified • Nose/jaw lengths can be adjusted, as well as hairline, and the color of the skin and shape and size of the eyes

46. Digital Facial reconstruction • Called video-superimposition • Used to match photographs to someone’s remains for the purpose of ID • Facial landmarks are measured and overlaid on photo of the skull for comparison • Also used to age missing persons and criminals who are still on the loose • Facial recognition systems may be used in the future to recognize terrorists and other criminals who attempt to superficially disguise their appearance

47. Did you know? • The skull fragments of Josef Mengele, a Nazi officer who performed experiments on Jews during World War II, were reconstructed and identified by this process

48. DNA evidence • DNA profiling usually uses nuclear DNA, in nucleus of white blood cells and body tissues • Bone contains little nuclear DNA, but mitochondrial DNA • Mitochondria- organelles found in all cells that contain DNA inherited from MOTHER only • Found in bone, and profiled • Can be compared with living relatives on mother’s side to determine identity of skeletal remains

49. Skeletal trauma analysis • Weathering and animals damage bones exposed to elements • Forensic anthropologist are trained to recognized these marks • A knife leaves parallel scoring on a rib BUT mice and rodents chew marks can look similar • Skeletal trauma analysis – makes distinctions between the patterns caused by weapons and the damage and wear caused by the environment after death to decipher what happened to body before and after death

50. summary • Bones are alive and carry on all life functions. Living cells replace the cartilage of our skeleton at birth by depositing calcium phosphate, creating a chard, compact material. This process is called ossification. • The condition of bones can tell an investigator about a person’s health and nutrition during life • Male and female skeletons differ in many ways, including roughness and thickness of bones, size, and shape of frontal bone in the skull and the shape of the eye cavity, the angle of the pelvis, and the presence or absence of childbirth scars.