What is forensic anthropology?
and why that matters for crime fiction
TV and movies might have you believing that forensic anthropologists do it all: track down suspects, interview witnesses, and single handedly solve the most lurid and complex crimes.
In reality, forensic anthropologists are highly specialized experts that are just one part of a complex team of professionals with a shared goal: finding answers. While they certainly work on the occasional sensational cases, forensic anthropologists can contribute to all sorts of investigations involving human remains.
What is the official definition of forensic anthropology?
Forensic anthropology, according to the American Board of Forensic Anthropology, is the application of the science and methods of biological anthropology to questions of medico-legal concern. We can break down the two parts of this definition.
Biological anthropology is the study of human bodies. Although lots of scientific fields study human bodies, biological anthropologists emphasize that bodies are a product of biology as well as culture. Simply put: genes provide the blueprint for our bodies, but how those are expressed and how are bodies are shaped is a result of what we eat, where we live, what we do, what we believe etc.
Medico-legal concern refers to questions of identity of unknown human remains and circumstances around death. Circumstances around death can mean how someone died but can also include the activities leading up to death as well as what happened to a body after death.
What do forensic anthropologists actually do?
Forensic anthropologists rarely work full time as forensic anthropologists. Instead, they are employed as professors, curators, or in a myriad of other roles and are invited to consult by law enforcement on a case-by -case basis. They have to network with and educate law enforcement in their geographic area to ensure they are called in on relevant cases. They are called on to answer the following questions:
1. Is a material human bone?: Forensic anthropologists are experts in human skeletal anatomy, as well as have significant knowledge of non-human bones.
2. Where are the remains?: They have the skills to search for and recover human remains. These skills come from the field of forensic archaeology.
3. Who are the remains?: They are experts in applying methods to assess age, biological sex, ancestral original, and stature and being able to recognize unique features of the skeleton useful in identification.
4. What happened to the remains around death?: They are able to reconstruct events around death by examining patterns of trauma and investigating taphonomy (what happened to the body after death).
Generally speaking, forensic anthropologists focus on remains that are skeletonized or at least significantly decomposed. Because of their broad range of specialized skills forensic anthropologists may be called into assist on cases ranging from a single suspicious bone fragment h to a mass grave. As awareness of their skills increase , they are being called in to assist in other types of cases such as searches for bodies, burned bodies, child and elder abuse, and trauma cases in recently deceased individuals.
Why does any of this matter for your crime fiction?
Employing an accurate definition of forensic anthropology in your writing allows you to craft rich characters, a compelling investigation, and a complex crime. Here are just some examples:
1. You have the opportunity to introduce a character with competing priorities and struggles, creating depth.
2. Instead of one person doing it all, you have the opportunity to introduce several colorful experts that work together to solve the crime.
3. You have the chance to create complex crimes for your forensic anthropologist to solve such as burned, mixed up, or fragmented bones that may seem unsolvable at first glance.