Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies

Forensic anthropology and bioarchaeology apply the analysis of human skeletal remains to two intersecting goals: identifying individuals in legal and humanitarian contexts, and reconstructing the biological profiles and lived experiences of past populations. Researchers examine features of bone and dentition—cranial shape, skeletal growth patterns, tooth formation, and structural density—to estimate age at death, determine biological sex, and document health, ancestry, and trauma. A central challenge is that existing reference standards were largely built from limited or historically specific populations, raising ongoing questions about how reliably these methods transfer across diverse human groups. Active work focuses on refining estimation techniques through larger and more representative skeletal samples, integrating imaging technologies, and reconciling the demands of rigorous scientific inference with the practical constraints of forensic casework.

Works

92,682

Total citations

752,178

Keywords

Age EstimationSex DeterminationSkeletal DevelopmentForensic PracticeCranial MorphologyDental Age Estimation