Forensic Science Academy Club Meeting

The Forensic Science Academy Club held a meeting between 8:00AM-3:00PM on both Saturday and Sunday. During this week we had the discussion question: Is anatomy different in foreign countries such as Latin America's Peru? The director once again had the idea for her favorite game: "What's wrong with this skeleton?" Today's contestant comes from an NPR piece "Finders, Not Keepers: Yale Returns Artifacts to Peru".

My group pretty much carefully and precisely computed the following conclusions:

The femurs of the human are on the wrong sides! The ribs are presented in the wrong order;  it is suppose to go from to small to big and small again! 1-3 ribs are usually small, 4-10 are big, and 11-12 are small once again. We were also bespectacled on why the fibulae of the remains are bent! The criticizing doesn't end here! There are 6 left metatarsals, the tibiae look much younger than the rest of the bones, and I'm not sure what's going on with the left tarsals.

In addition to what is been said so far, it is showing the posterior side of the scapula and they are on the wrong arms, same with the femurs. They don't know their right from their left, or front to back for the manner. It looks like one of those 6 metatarsals is actually a second metacarpal. The inferior portions of the ribs are actually pointing upward, when they should be pointed downward! The radii look like they're flipped as well, proximal to distal. The radial heads are pointing at the carpals when they should be pointed at the humeri.

With this presented evidence we can suggest that the radius and ulna should be reversed, since the radius is lateral when laid out in proper anatomical position, whereas it is shown to be medial. It looks like the olecranon fossae are pointed up in the anterior manner when they should be down in the posterior manner. Tibiae possibly don't go with this individual. Both have clear epiphyseal lines that aren't even close to closed at both ends making this a 12-15 year old adolescent. There might be a line of fusion evident in the proximal humeri, but there are no epiphyseal lines evident on the femora.

Finally, the pathologies are odd too. How is it that the left fibulae is significantly bowed without any notable changes to the left tibia! At the rate that we were going through, we were fairly convinced that these bones come from 2 or more people. And I'm definitely convinced that whoever laid out this skeleton knows precious little about human osteology, what a great disappointment Peru!

Forensic Science Academy Club Meeting

 

The Forensic Science Academy Club held a meeting between 8:00AM-3:00PM on both Saturday and Sunday. During this weekend, we were given a brief look at some of the uses of lead  in the Roman world, including the hoary hypothesis that rampant lead poisoning led to the downfall of Rome.

The fact the Romans loved their lead isn't in question. There is plenty of textual and archaeological sources that inform us of the use of lead - as cosmetics, ballistics, sarcophagi, pipes, jewelry, curse tablets, utensils and cooking pots, and, of course sapa and defrutum(wine boiled down in lead pots) - but what almost all stories about the use of lead in ancient Rome miss is the osteological evidence. Metabolic disorders can be caused by a lack of nutrients - a lack of vitamin C gives you scurvy, and a lack of vitamin D gives you rickets - but they can also be caused by an abundance of  too much fluoride, mercury, arsenic,or lead.

Lead is found in the environment naturally, so we do expect to find some amount of lead in the skeleton of every person, ancient or modern. But, because of the physical properties of lead - it can be made into hard, sharp things - people have been using it for millennia and thus have been exposed to heavy metal toxicity for millennia as well. The dangers of lead actually weren't well known until the second half of the 20th century, which was when lead was taken out of things like paint and gasoline.

In modern society, lead poisoning is diagnosed through a blood test to determine the level of lead in the body. We don't have blood in ancient remains, so we have to investigate lead through the levels we can measure in bone and enamel. Humans should not have more than 1 mg/kg of lead in their bones (or 10 ug/dL measured in blood). What is clear, though, is that lead poisoning is not something you'd want to have. People with very severe lead poisoning tend to have major neurological changes - brain swelling leading to seizures and headaches, aggressive behavior, loss of short-term memory, and slurred speech - and a host of other problems, like anemia and constipation.

Now in order to answer the EQ for the week, we had to look at the evidence and conclude if lead poisoning caused the fall of the Roman Empire? Probably not. Yes, there was increased lead production in the Roman Empire, which we know from histories, ecological sources, artifacts, and now skeletons. But the data - few as they are - simply don't support a conclusion of high lead concentration in the entire population.

Dr. Aufderheide and FSAClub assistants did test 20 skeletons from Italy, including a few from the greater Rome area. However, this was not an in-depth study, in that the skeletons were from various places. They further note that they could not control for lead diagenesis, which may have thrown off their measurements and caused a large percentage of error. Twenty years later, the technology for identifying lead concentration in skeletons is greatly improved. Aufderheide and colleagues found that skeletons from the Roman period had much higher lead levels than in the previous centuries, which is consistent with our study and the understanding that lead working increased in this time period.

Blog 13: Answer 1

Senior Project 2-Hour House Meeting #1

1. What is answer 1 to your EQ? Be specific in your answer and write it like a thesis statement.

Answer 1 to my EQ "What is the most important factor of a skeletal remain in a criminal investigation?" is determining if the skeletal remains are in fact of forensic significance based on the presence of trauma.  

2. What possible evidence do you have to support this answer?

Possible evidence that I have to support this answer includes:

• According to the ANT 203 Anthropology and the Scientific Method Lecturer in the City College of San Francisco Professor Mark Dobbs, MA the shape of a bone will reveal its function and the locomotion of its owner when analyzing if the remains are human or non human. Since approximately 40% of remains that have been reported to be human remains were in fact those of dogs, deer, pigs, cows, horses, and even birds! By determining if it's human and shows evidence of someone's death at a early stage shows that both time and money will be saved.
• According to the forensic anthropologist author of the Bone Detective, Diane France, you can feel the greasy patina and the decomposition chemical of the fatty acids that are leaking out of the cranium that has been caused by biological decomposition when trauma force struct the individual. Knowing this, you can easily differ a modern death with that of a "Crô-Magnon," a couple of thousand year old individual who did not live in our era.
• In October of 2011,when building a post for a freeway system, construction workers pulled up an entire set of skeletal remains from their work station and quickly called authorities to report a crime that has taken place under a freeway. When a forensic anthropologist known as Michael Browning came into the scene he quickly identified the remains as that of a California-native individual who was approximately 1,000-1,500 years old give or take a few years based on the level of preservation and the cubic capacity of the cranium that was much larger than that of a modern human. Also, panther-like bite marks were present all over the cranium as well as in four of the rib cages. With this being said, action to take a full criminal investigation was halted and unattested when there was no forensic significance presence to take a full investigation.

3. What source(s) did you find this evidence and/or answer?

Sources that I found my evidence and answer include:

• ANT 203 Anthropology and the Scientific Method Lecturer recording at the City College of San Francisco Professor Mark Dobbs was my evidence for the first fact that supported my answer. "Anthropology, Forensics and the Scientific Method: Real World Applications" Lecture:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49yx8FEIaPY
• Diane France presentation of her works of her authorship of Bone Detective to the Distinctive Voices of British Columbia, Canada who answered the second fact that supported my answer. "The Bone Detective" Presentation:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcnGybzFhjM&feature=related
• The local news report on Forensic Anthropologist, Michael Browning for the Los Angeles Coroner's Office provided me evidence and support as a notable example of the importance of finding forensic significance in any skeletal remain report. "Public asked to help ID skeletal remains found near Morton" News report:  http://www.king5.com/news/Skeletal-remains-found-near-Morton-132162938.html  

Blog 12: Service Learning

1. Where are you working for your service learning?

I am receiving my service learning at the Forensic Science Academy Club in Rancho Cucamonga. 

2. What is your contact?

My contact is the current president of the Forensic Science Academy Club which is Ashlee Enriquez.

3. Summarize the services you have performed to complete the 10 hour requirement.

The services that I have performed in order to complete the ten hour requirement for service learning included a wide variety of opportunities and educational experiences. Click for the Forensic Science Academy Club Log

• On September 17, 2011 - Introduced into the Forensic Science Academy Club for the first time and was told to share-out about myself and my long-term goals within the FSAC. Given job opportunities and the ability to fully receive the complete membership within the FSAC. Click for Detailed Explanation of Event
• On September 24, 2011 - Field trip to Hollywood's Museum of Death where the FSAC received a private tour of the forensic files of famous individuals such as JFK and Marilyn Monroe coroner files. Phyisical evidence and forensic computation of computation was throughly presented. Click for Detailed Explanation of Field Trip
• On October 15, 2011 - Group-cooperation was introduced to solve a rather simple crime using forensic evidence and support. We then went to the new FSAC facility where we were given training conference opportunity and were presented to the complete board of staff in the Forensic Science Academy. Click for Detailed Explanation of Co-Op Event
• On November 20, 2011 - Field trip to the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office and were given a tour of what their motto and functioning system works within the forensic community. It was a fun and interesting experience that made me more dedicated to continue to pursue a career within forensic anthropology. Click for Detailed Explanation of Coroner's Office Trip

Blog 11: Third Interview Questions

I am planning on interviewing a forensic anthropologist Ms. Wolcott who is a rather helpful alumni of the Forensic Science Academy Club and has a masters degree in Forensic Anthropology from UCLA. As a practicing individual of my field I know that she will be able to give me a lot of helpful input into answering my essential question.

1. What is the most important factor of a skeletal remain in a criminal investigation? Why?
2. How accurate is the skull in determining the sex of an individual?
3. What can cause confusion of human skeletal remains with those of non-human remains? Why?
4. Can the preservation of the bone be used in order to determine the time of death? Why?
5. Why is Carbon-14 not commonly used when determining the age of the skeletal remains?
6. How will the scientific analysis obtained from studying the remains assist a criminal investigation?
7. How can you analysize ancestral background by only using the skull?
8. What is the number one rule to follow when identifying skeletal remains in a criminal investigation? Why?
9. How can the presence of bone deformation or abnormal bone tissue growth effect the analysis that will be obtained?
10. Under what environmental conditions do the skeletal remains get damaged? How so?