Question When bones are discovered at a crime scene who would the detective in charge contact?

Answer A forensic anthropologist

Question What is the main job of a forensic anthropologist?

Answer To identify the skeletal remains of a corpse.

Question In identifying a set of bones what is the first question that the forensic anthropologist must answer?

Answer Is it human or animal?

Question Once the bones have been determined to be human, what is the next question the forensic anthropologist must answer?

Answer Are the remains from a male or a female?

Question Once gender has been established, what is the next question that a forensic anthropologist must answer?

Answer How old was the person when he/she died?

Question Once gender and age have been established, what come next?

Answer Race, followed by height.

Questions How many bones does an infant have? An adult?

Answer Infants have 300 bones while adults have 206.

Question True or False – The bones of a six year old boy look the same as those of a six year old girl.

Answer For the most part, yes. The skeletons of adolescents are practically the same until they reach puberty.

Question True or False – It is easier to determine the age of an adolescent compared to the age of an adult.

Answer True.

Question A person’s diet could be determined by examining his/her bones.

Answer True. One way is by carbon isotope analysis.

Question What is the most important bone in determining the gender?

Answer The pelvis.

Question What are some of the main differences between the male and female pelvis?

Answer The male pelvic bone forms an angle of less than 90 degrees, while the female’s is larger than 90 degrees. The sciatic notch on a male is smaller than the sciatic notch on a female.

Question What is the “wiggle test”?

Answer When determining gender, the forensic anthropologist will insert his/her finger into the sciatic notch. If the finger can wiggle, then it is a female, if there is not much wiggle room then it is a male.

Question What is the second most important bone in determining gender?

Answer The skull

Question What are the differences between a male and a female skull?

Answer The bones located above the eyes of the male are more protruded than those of the female. The bones located below the ear of the male are also more protruded than those of the female. The occipital protuberance in the male is expressed while in the female it is not. (guys have a little notch sticking out of the lower back of their heads while gals do not)

Question How does the jaw of a male differ from the jaw of a female?

Answer The jaws of males equal the width of the skull, while the jaws of females are narrower than the width of the skull.

Question What is the most important part of the skeleton for determining race?

Answer The skull, more specifically the maxillary bone.

Question How does the shape of the maxillary bone differ with the different races?

Answer Caucasoid – have parabolic shape Mongoloid – have a rounded shape Negroid – have a hyperbolic shape

Question After the bones in the skull, what is the next important bone in the body for determining race?

Answer The femur. It is used to rule out negroid and caucasoid.

Question Besides, the bones in the skull and the femur, what other bones are used to determine race?

Answer The bones of the pelvis.

Question Identify three bones that are used for determining height.

Answer The humerus, the femur and the radius. The femur is the most important. It is approximately ¼ the height of a person. (yes, you need to know this)

Questions 80% of unknown corpses are identified by _________________.

Answer Dental records. Not DNA.

Questions How are bite mark preserved?

Answers By dental castings, transparencies and photographs with a scale.

Question Why is it important to preserve the bite mark as soon as possible?

Answer Bite marks can change after hours. The bite mark on a dead person looks different than a bite mark on a living individual.

Question What is sexual dimorphism?

Answer Having traits of both male and female