It’s all about the context: reflections on the changing role of forensic anthropology in medico-legal death investigations

Abstract

The discipline of forensic anthropology has its roots in physical anthropology with early practitioners focusing on areas of study such as human growth and development, physiological adaptation, anthropometry and biomechanics. While it is axiomatic that forensic anthropologists have a detailed understanding of the human skeleton, it is the practitioners’ expertise in the analysis of differentially preserved human remains that today is at the heart of the discipline. In addition to the context of the case (whether a missing person, disaster victim identification, war grave recovery, cases of political, ethnic or religious violence, or questions pertaining to the living), the preservation and condition of the remains inevitably influences the extent to which the forensic anthropologist plays a role. This paper outlines different contexts where forensic anthropologists have contributed to forensic cases, and reflects on the influence of geography (and therefore political context) on the volume of cases requiring the expertise of forensic anthropologists in different countries. Consideration is then given to the developing state of professional practice and research in forensic anthropology, as well as the expanding repertoire of the forensic anthropologist’s work.