Fundamentals of Forensic Anthropology
Chapter One
INTRODUCTION
There does not exist a category of science to which one can give the name
applied science. There are science and the applications of science, bound
together as the fruit of the tree which bears it.
-Louis Pasteur
OVERVIEW OF THE FIELD
Pasteur's observation on science appears particularly appropriate to forensic
anthropology. The American Board of Forensic Anthropology offers the
following definition:
Forensic anthropology is the application of the science of physical anthropology
to the legal process. The identification of skeletal, badly decomposed, or
otherwise unidentified human remains is important for both legal and humanitarian
reasons. Forensic anthropologists apply standard scientific techniques
developed in physical anthropology to identify human remains, and to assist in
the detection of crime. Forensic anthropologists frequently work in conjunction
with forensic pathologists, odontologists, and homicide invest ... read full excerpt from Fundamentals of Forensic Anthropology ebook
