McMaster University Department of Anthropology ANTHROP 3FA3 Fall 2023 LAB #2: DETERMINING MEDICOLEGAL SIGNIFICANCE NAME: Sarah Matthews STUDENT #: 400394369 The purpose of this lab is to: 1) Think critically about scenarios that forensic anthropologists find themselves in 2) Go through the process of making medicolegal determinations regarding found human remains Instructions: Read each scenario and question carefully. Answer in full sentences but make sure you stay within the allocated space. You may use your lecture notes and textbook as an aid, but only use information pertinent to the question (i.e. do not describe animal/human of a scapula if you are not looking at a scapula). 1) One of the first questions FAs ask is whether something is bone or not. Assess the images above. Is this bone or not bone? Describe how you would go about making this determination. What other information could be included in this picture to help make this determination? (4 marks; 8 lines max.) From the image alone I can determine that the material presented is not bone, but rather a shard of rock. I can tell by the colour of the material that it does not resemble bone, since bone is yellow and off-white. The material in the photo is neither dense like cortical bone nor spongy like cancellous bone. I don’t notice any aspects of medullary cavity, trabeculae, or joint surfaces in the material. The object also does not have a smooth surface, but rather bumpy, rough surface. An element that could be added to assist with the determination of this material is the inclusion of a scale in the photo and differing photo angles. McMaster University Department of Anthropology ANTHROP 3FA3 Fall 2023 2) Examine the photo above. Is this bone or not bone? Describe the process that helped with your determination. If bone, describe the process you would go through to determine if it is animal or human. What additional information would you want to help with your analysis? (6 marks, 9 lines) The photo above contains an image of bone. Due to the texture, I can identify cortical bone present. You can also see the shaft and epiphysis at the ends of the material. To determine whether it is animal or human bone I would look biomechanics of the bone. Animal bone differs in thickness due to the difference in walking styles, human bone tends to be thinner. You would also have to differ between animal and immature human bone, since they can look very similar. If you cannot distinguish whether it is animal or human bone by visual examination, you can use microscopic methods by comparing the osteon structuring of the bone. Placing the bone beside a scale and providing many photographs at different angles in good lighting would benefit the analysis. 3) Hamilton Police Services contacts you regarding a human femur and tibia that was found by hikers at Borer’s Falls Conservation Area close to the falls. The remains appear wet and uniformly brown in colour. HPS wants to know if the remains are McMaster University Department of Anthropology ANTHROP 3FA3 Fall 2023 forensically significant. Describe the process you would go through to determine the origins of the remains and whether they are forensically significant or not. Be as detailed by succinct as possible. (5 marks, 9 lines max.) To determine whether remains are forensically significant is whether the material found is bone, human and recent. I would first try to dissect the context the bones were found in. Since the bones were found at an unusual location I would further investigate. Next, I would test the tissue in the bone, to see how much is left. I would have to consider that the remains were soaked in water, possibly altering the tissue composition. I would also look for personal items surrounding the remains to determine what period the remains are from. I would look at the colouring of the bones as recent bones are usually yellow, since the bones were brown, it could have been buried for a long time resulting in being soil stained.
