Forensic Anthropology

This course will provide students with the skills to develop a biological profile on examination of human remains. The biological profile includes age at death, ancestry, sex, stature, trauma, dental and skeletal x-rays, basics of bone remodeling (healing), mtDNA, osteometrics, and personal identification from bones and teeth. Other topics of discussion include human variation, testifying as an expert witness, buried and surface scattered remains, evidence handling, taphonomy, and introduction to archaeology. A portion of the semester will be devoted to students examining remains, writing reports of findings, and presenting their findings to the class each week.