I'll help you to tell your family who you are

"I'm Dr.O. i'll strain all my nerves to find out your identity...I'll help you to tell your family who you are!"

Whose identity???

A burnt dead human.

wow, this is the job of a forensic anthropologist. They are gotta identify the dead when the victims are with unrecognizable face and bone exposure or the body is mutilated or only part of the body is found.

Scenario:


No. 46-102/40 was unrecognised because the victim was burnt. So, Dr. O, a forensic anthropologist, was asked to identify the victim.

So, what does "46-102/40" means?
It means body number 46 removed from the site at grid co-ordinate 102/83.

If it is "46P-102/40", what does it mean? How about "M46"?
"46P-102/40" means body part number 46 removed from the site at grid co-ordinate 102/40; "M46" means body or part number 46 which was labelled at the mortuary and therefore no co-ordination was written down when labelling.

The forensic anthropologist is gonna identify the race, stature, sex, and age of the victim.

1) Race.
The picture below is the skull of 46-102/40. So can you identify the race of the victim? (I have circled the important characteristic, hope this can lead you to have some idea)

"The skull is keeled and brachicephalic (short but broad skull). The major suture of the skull is complex.The orbits are round and the nasal is slightly depressed. The nasal spine is moderate. The victim has projecting zgmomatics and malar tubercle. Besides that, the zygomaticomaxillary suture is angled. The dentition is edge-to-edge bite and the buccal pits are obeseved. The victim's face has everted gonion angle.Therefore, the victim is identified as mongoloid."

What about the other characteristic of mongoloid? Let's look at the picture below.

How do you know that is not caucasoid or negroid? Let's look at the picture below.



Caucasoid skull

 So the picture above is caucasoid. The important features are:

• dolicocephalic skull (long but narrow skull)
• the major suture is simple
• sloping orbits
• narrow nasal aperture; tower nasal; deep nasal sill and large nasal spine
• s-shaped zygomaticomaxillary suture
• retreating zygomotics
• the face has straight gonion angle

  

  Negroid skull

  The picture above is negroid skull. The important features are:
• the skull with post-bregmatic depression
• the major suture is simple
• s-shaped zygomaticomaxillary suture
• rectangular orbits
• guttered lower nasal border; wide nasal aperture; no nasal spine
• large prognathism

2) Stature.

"The humerus length is 31 cm. So, the stature is estimated between 160.16 and 168.66cm"

To estimate the stature, we usually use humerus. But if humerus is not found, other long bones will be used, such as femur. Caliper is used to measure the length of long bone. There are different formula for different long bone. We then substitute the length of the long bone into the formula. After that, calculate it to get the range.

3) Sex

Male pelvis

"The pelvic inlet is small and looks like a heart shape. The subpubic angle is acute (70 degree). The ventral anterior margin of the obturator foramen is sharp. The acetabulum is wide and deep, facing laterally. Besides that, the sciatic notch is angled ,deep and narrow. The ilium is vertical (stand up). The fossa auricularis is long, and narrow, curving anteriorly.There is no parturition pits, nor the preauricular sulcus. By examining the skull, I find that the supraorbital ridge is prominent and is not smooth. The mastoid process is large. So, the victim is identified as a male."

The picture below shows how a female pelvic looks like.



female pelvis

 Further reading: Tortora G.J., Derrickson B. Principles of Anatomy and Physiology. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 11th edition, 2006. Page 244.

We can also identify sex through secondary sexual signs, e.g. mammae; cranial bone; and sex chromosome.

4) Age.

"By using the dental attrition, the estimated age of the victim is 30-35 years old"

For the burnt dead victims, teeth is important in identification. For the dental atrition, the concept is as one grows older, there will be more enamel loss.

Age estimation by using dental atrition

However, there is factor which influencing the accuracy of using this method. Humans eat a variety of food which promote enamel attrition at different rates. Therefore, this may influence the result of estimating the age.

Besides using dental attrition, dental formation and eruption times is used in estimating age to approximately 15 years. For the old age, can try to identify the changes of bone due to arthritis or osteoporosis and their orbits are lipping.

To estimate age, we can also use pubic symphysis.

Another alternative is we access the bone growth.

 So, 46-102/40 is identified as a mongoloid male, whose stature is between 160 and 169cm, with estimated age 30-35 years old. To find his identity, we need the ante-mortem data and further lab test, e.g. DNA, and then we will do the reconciliation.

Reference:
1) Prof. drg. Etty Indriati. Lecture: The Roles of Anthropology in Disaster Victim Identification.
2) Dr. Yudha Nurhantari. Lecture: Management of Dead Victims in Mass Disaster.
3) http://people.wku.edu/darlene.applegate/forensic/lab9/lab9.html (Identify race)
4) http://www.the-crankshaft.info/2010/07/morphological-age-estimation.html
5) http://www.interpol.int/public/DisasterVictim/guide/chapitre4.asp
6) http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/dolicocephalic+skull
7) http://education.yahoo.com/reference/gray/subjects/subject/58 (Female pelvis)
8) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelvis
9) http://www.wadsworth.com/anthropology_d/special_features/forensics/forensics_index/index.html  (Role of forensic anthropologist)
10) Tortora G.J., Derrickson B. Principles of Anatomy and Physiology. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 11th edition, 2006. Page 244.
11) Practical Guide Block 4.2: Forensic Anthropological Identification of Disaster Victims.