Special topics course: Forensic Anthropology offered this summer @UVIC
ATTENTION UVIC STUDENTS!
Forensic Anthropology ANTH 394
Summer 2015
July 6 - August 21
Course Description And Objectives
This course is an introduction to the field of forensic anthropology; a vital and rapidly developing applied subfield of biological anthropology. It outlines the areas in which forensic anthropologists may contribute to a death investigation and introduces basic concepts relating to the recovery and analysis of human remains in a medicolegal context. Forensic anthropologists work closely with local police officials, coroners, pathologists, lawyers, and other forensic specialists to personally identify unknown human remains in order to bring resolution to a case, often associated with a homicide. Course topics include: methods of crime scene investigation, processing outdoor scenes, proper documentation and photography for court presentation, estimating time since death, causes of death including trauma related incidence, ethical treatment of human remains, mass disasters, and role of the forensic anthropologist as an expert witness. The major objective of this course is to introduce students to the range of theoretical and methodological techniques within forensic anthropology.
Skills Development
Students will learn how to think critically in completing lab exercises that will cover methods in the search for, recovery, and excavation of human remains, along with how to determine forensic significance, interpret taphonomic agents, and employ methods of personal identification (age, sex, stature, DNA). Students will develop essential skills in areas such as deductive reasoning, collection, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of quantitative morphological data, as well be trained in areas beyond skeletal biology that include knowledge of medical and legal terminology and procedures necessary to communicate with other medicolegal professionals in a forensic context. Students will develop their problem solving, research, communication, and presentation skills through a series of lab exercises that will include both group work and individual assignments.
