Overview

Sometimes, all that is left from a violent crime are the skeletal remains of the victim. Careful analysis of bones can reveal many important clues about the identity and/or the type of injuries that caused the death of a victim. The scientific examination of the skeletal remains from a crime scene is known as forensic anthropology.

A dead body begins to decompose immediately upon death. The rate at which the human body decomposes depends upon the surrounding environment and the micro-environment of the body. If the remains of a victim have been left outside, insects and micro-organisms accelerate decomposition through infestation. Forensic entomology is a specialized field of forensic science in which the analysis and identification of insects found upon a victim’s body can lead to an approximation of the time of death and the cause of death.

• Lesson 1 of this module discusses forensic anthropology specifically. Then, the lesson shows how human bone can be distinguished from animal bone. Students examine how forensic anthropologists determine both ancestry and sex from skeletal remains.

• Lesson 2 explores how various types of force or various types of weapons can leave specific types of bone fractures.

• Lesson 3 focuses upon how forensic entomologists use information about insect succession to help determine the time and cause of death of a victim whose body is partially decomposed.

• Lesson 4 examines the details of two historical crime cases and one fictional crime case involving forensic anthropology and forensic entomology.

Module Learner Objectives

By the end of Module 6, you should be able to…

• recognize that in the field of forensic anthropology information about the victim of a crime and the nature of the crime itself is determined from unknown skeletal remains

• understand that a forensic anthropologist attempts to determine the following information from unknown skeletal remains: whether they are human or non-human, number of individuals found, time of death, sex of individual(s), ancestry of individual(s), stature of individual(s), and cause of death
• describe some of the basic skeletal differences between human and animal bones (such as ribs and upper and lower limbs)

• state some of the basic skeletal differences between humans of various ancestries or races (such as Negroid, Caucasoid, and Mongoloid)

• identify some of the basic skeletal differences between female and male remains

• perform a research study that compares the size and length of various bones in males and females

• describe how different types of force (such as compression, bending, torsion, tension, shearing) can fracture human bones in specific ways

• explain how various types of trauma (such as blunt force, projectile, sharp force, strangulation) cause specific types of damage to human bone

• describe how various type(s) of weapons can cause damage to human bone

• recognize that the field of forensic entomology helps investigators to determine on the basis of insect infestation the approximate length of time a body has been left in an area

• understand that each environment has a unique set of native insect species and that each of these insects has a unique life cycle and exhibits unique behaviors

• analyze a historical crime case(s) or fictional crime case(s) that involves forensic anthropology and/or forensic entomology