Events

Because of television shows like "Bones," "CSI," and "NCIS," the public is fascinated with forensic anthropology. But what is it really like? In this series, we'll discuss the basic methods that forensic anthropologists use to learn about a person from their skeletal remains. We will discuss how we can learn a person's age and sex from a skeleton, and we will learn about how forensic anthropologists "read" a lifetime of experiences, diseases, and traumas from the body. We'll also talk about some of the tough issues forensic anthropologists have to navigate, like what is race, and can you see it in the skeleton? What does a bullet do to a skull? Can you determine how someone died just from their bones alone? Together, we'll talk through actual case studies to see how the work is done and compare that to work shown in fictional media. Space is limited.