Transcript
Anthropology is the study of the human condition. It is the most holistic of the social sciences incorporating every aspect of humanity, both cultural and physical, to better our understanding of what it means to be a human being.
The field is divided into 4 subfields: sociocultural, linguistics, archeology, and biological anthropology.
Forensic anthropology is the application of knowledge of human variation, skeletal biology, biomechanics and other sub-disciplines of biological anthropology to matters of medico-legal importance. Forensic anthropologists apply the theories, methods and techniques of biological anthropology to matters of medico-legal significance. Forensic anthropologists consult on medical examiners cases in which the remains have become skeletonized, decomposed, burned, fragmented, or are otherwise unidentifiable. Forensic anthropologists help in the investigation of death by establishing forensic context, establishing time since death, assisting with recovery of the remains, determining the biological profile, assisting with identification of the descendent, assisting with interpretation of traumatic injury, and assisting with determining the cause and manner of death. Cause of death is the proximate cause of death such as a gunshot wound to the head or cerebral hemorrhage causing brainstem herniation. Manner of death is how the death came about and the legal determination based on evidence (whether it is natural, accident, homicide, or suicide). Reasons for a forensic autopsy are to find the cause and manner of death, time of death, to identify collect and preserve evidence, to find factual information for law enforcement prosecutors defense attorneys and families, and to protect the innocent and prosecute the guilty. You can request an autopsy to confirm whether the diagnosis was correct, the nature of illness, reveal genetic defects, to reveal hereditary or familial diseases, and suspicious of malpractice. Medico-legal death investigation jobs are crime scene investigators, medico-legal death investigators, homicide investigators, state attorneys and prosecutors, and medical examiners.
