THEORY AND METHODS OF FORENSIC ANTHROPOLOGY   1600w

Figure 3a Female pelvic girdle (France, 2009)

Figure 3b Male pelvic girdle (France, 2009)The skull or cranium is another useful bone used for the determination of sex by the forensic anthropologist (Rhine, 1998; Adebisi, 2009). Here, methods used are calibration and physical observation. Male chins are usually squarer while female chins tend to come to a point at the middle. Male foreheads tend to slant backwards while those of females are usually more rounded. Also there is a higher prevalence of brow ridges noticed in males than in females (Minnesota State University, 2005-2010; France, 2009; Nafte, 2000). The calibration process involves measurements taken from the skull using spreading and sliding callipers (see figures 4a and 4b below) and inserted into derived formulae. The results are then computed and compared to standards to obtain final determination of sex (Winson, 2004).

Figure 4b Using a sliding calliper (Winson, 2004)

Figure 4a Using a spreading calliper (Winson, 2004)

How Old Was the Decedent at the Time of Death?

During the formative years of an individual, growth and development are regular processes and the way and stages that bones mature follow an observed pattern. Thus under normal circumstances, they are measurable and predictable (Nafte, 2000). Forensic anthropologists use these observations to determine the age of the decent. According to Klepinger (2006), these measurable features include eruption of tooth, length of bone, dental development, as well as appearance and fusion of growth centres. Measurements of these from different populations of living and dead individuals have been catalogued over several years to a data source known as growth standards (Nafte, 2000). According to Nafte, forensic anthropologists apply these standards comparatively when observing the final stage of growth reached by the decent at the time of death. Unknown skeletal remains can thus be assigned an age with a considerable high degree of accuracy.

The general category of the skeleton however determines the specific age determination technique to be used. For a relatively young individual, the most accurate methods of age determin