Running head: FORENSIC ANTHROPOLOGY 1

Comparison In Use And Importance Of Femur And Skull

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FORENSIC ANTHROPOLOGY 2

Comparison In Use And Importance Of Femur And Skull

Introduction

Biological profile entails set of characteristics that an individual had when alive and they

can be critically identified from the skeleton after death (Digangi& Moore 2012, p.64). The

major remains used after death includes teeth, skull, and bones. These skeletonized remains are

essential in determining the characteristic that an individual possessed when alive including sex,

age, stature, and geographic ancestry. This analysis requires comparison of skeletonized remains

with graphical mathematical models developed from the population. The referenced population

comprises information collected from research on living or dead people (Yancey 2006, p.67). A

successful biological profile highly depends on the condition of skeleton remains.

Bone is more affected by environmental conditions as compared to teeth since they

cannot survive for long. Acidic soil and varying humidity are very damaging to the survival of

bones and preservation of skeletons remains. The purpose of this essay is to compare the use and

importance of the femur and the skull in the construction of a biological profile. Femur bone can

be used to identify the stature and the researcher must use the correct calculation format.

Similarly, a skull is used when calculating different body types and groups of people. Female

have longer femur bone than a male who have longer arms instead (Latham et al 2017, 226). In

addition, individuals who come from colder climatically environment have shorter femur bone

meant to conserve energy. On the other hand, individual from hotter climatic conditions have

longer femur bone so as to maximize cooling.

Just as the femur bone is used in determining the stature, the skull is used to adjust for

age. After maturity, the individual starts to lose height through shrinking of the spine and an

individual loses approximately 0.1 centimeters every year. Researchers have calculated the

stature using the femur length and this has made biological profile identification easier.

Several methods have been implemented to measure the ancestry from skeleton remains. Skull is

more preferred in ancestry estimation rather than the use of the femur bone (Digangi& Moore

2012, p.88). Ancestry estimation calculations use morphological traits that assume that the

characteristics are heritable.

Methods that have been used to interpret ancestral estimation and evaluations of skeletal

remains. Morphological traits rely heavily on the visual evaluation of the skeleton and the two

major assessment methods include non-metric traits and anthroposcopic traits (Latham et al

2017, 216). Non-metric traits can be identified by their availability in the skull while

anthroposcopic traits vary in degrees on the skull or any other skeletal material. Additionally, the

femur is one of the skeletal traits that can be used to identify ancestral estimation. Both the femur

bone and the skull indicate the ancestral origin of an individual. This is simply because femur

and the skull are inheritable skeletal traits and they are common to a specific group of people.

Femur and the skull can also be used in sex estimation. Sex can be defined as the

biological sex of an individual based on the physical features (Yancey 2006, p.52). Sex

represents biological traits in different expression degrees. Forensic anthropologists rely heavily

on skeletal materials to determine the sex of human remains. Determination of sex of human

remains is a very significant biological profile and femur bone and skull have been found to be

very helpful. Sex analysis can be conducted through evaluation of the pelvis, femur and the

skull. The physical size of the skull in male and female is varying as well as the femur bone.
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Due to childbirth, morphological traits indicate that female has a wider pelvic region that the

male.

The skull is another sexually determinant of human remains. The skull exhibits different

sizes between the male and the female and this is important information in sex estimation.

According to Digangi & Moore (2012, p.76), sex estimation of the skull is determined by the

size of the skull, muscles attached, mastoid processes, external occipital protuberance. Similarly,

the chin, forehead and supraorbital ridges and margins can also be essential in sex determination.

The other important use of skeletal remains is to determine the age individual time of

death. Age estimation is an important component of the biological profile. There are different

methods of age determination base on the whether the individual was an adult or a juvenile

(Yancey 2006, p.72). Young people are aged using the skeletal materials base on the

interpretation of growth and development while an adult is aged through evaluation of

degenerative human remains. Strong and long femur bone indicates that the individual was an

aged adult while growing and week femur bone illustrates that the individual was a juvenile

(Latham et al 2017, 116). Similarly, the skull of an adult is more developed and large in size

while that of a young individual is small in size.

In constructing biological profiles bone as part of human remains is one of the most

accurate indicators, since skeletal features related to bipedalism that is walking on two limbs are

found in it. The existence of these features is like the double curvature to the spine, short thick

and broad innominate double arch to the feet. On the other hand, the four-legged animals that are

quadruped in femur have got single arch that is to their spine, long and narrow innominate and

single arch to their feet and still, have no bicondylar ankle (Byers 2016, p.53).
FORENSIC ANTHROPOLOGY 5

The variables growth of the femur that is diaphyseal length plus distal epiphysis,

diaphyseal length vertical diameter of the health and maximum length which has been used in

polynomial regressions. This is a result of the purposes in the role it plays in age and sex

determination throughout the entire life has proved to be best. Sexual dimorphisms were literally

identified in both of the two femoral measurements that are the vertical diameter of the head and

maximum length. The result shows that the two variables are of much use in sex determination.

Coefficients correlation which was stronger were identified between age and femoral size, this

indicates that any measurements of the femoral can serve as a useful source in the estimation of

sub-adult age in both forensic samples and archeological.

While using the skull in the determination of age and sex, are usually Imprecise since it’s

difficult to determine the time of death thus inaccurate results (Spradley&Weisensee 2017,

p.163).In various situations where the corpse may be severely mutilated represented by skeletal

remains or decomposed, the stature of such an individual is estimated through measurement of

which the best method used is femur or the bone. Such measurements will be based on the

relationship between such a skeletal element and the very stature. This is best since the

measurement of the bone reflect individual structure compared to the skull which probable errors

are likely to occur and variations in the results.

Also, femoral fractures may be presented in various forms/patterns with or without the

essence of associated fractures which play great importance in atomic and archeological cases. In

this case, femur offers a good insight into the age of the deceased than the skull through the bone

mineral content and density. This is a result of the fact that they tend to increase as people get

old. Also, the age margin error of the femur is approximately 13 years whereas in the skull it's

slightly higher.
FORENSIC ANTHROPOLOGY 6

Also in the use of the skull, it requires a large or extensive study which is time-

consuming and tiresome. Forensic practitioners have to carry large sample sizes to draw

conclusions which are not the case with the femur. Also in race determination, the femur is

widely used which plays a big role in accuracy. Femoral curvature and other different

morphological attributes have employed in support of racial determination and the accuracy

ranges from 57% to 96%. This depends on the sample and the technique. The femur has also

been turned to post-cranial elements not only in support of cranial findings but also in case

cranial information isn't available (Pink 2017, p.245).

Skeleton provides valuable information concerned with the stress experienced in the past.

This is because the stress indicator in the femur largely explores the changes that take place

during the early years of the individual when bone tissue is in the process of formation. In the

skull, the dental stress indicator does not remodel compared to the femur which remodels

throughout the lifetime of the individual forming a strong foundation in the estimation of stress

after dying. Human populations experience trauma at some point in life. Thus the archeologist

will document evidence based on various lines. These include; settlement pattern, activities

relating to conflict and places. Thus, Bio archeologist uses this evidence to explore the possible

threat of such conflict and not the outcome of such individual involved. This evidence is used in

femur rather than the skull. This is mostly used since femur usually displays diaphyseal fracture

in an extensive way.

In conclusion, structural adaptations in bone tissues usually remodel when mechanical

stimulation occurs. Both the femur and bone has got diverse us creating diversity in biological

profiling. In case the skeleton is involved in an extensive level of mechanical loading and bone is
FORENSIC ANTHROPOLOGY 7

widely used in this process. Thus bones are best used for measuring osteometric board for the of

purposes accuracy.

Bibliography

Byers, S. N., 2016. Introduction to forensic anthropology. Taylor & Francis.

DIGANGI, E. A., & MOORE, M. K. (2012). Research methods in human skeletal biology.

London, Elsevier Academic.

Langley, N.R. and Tersigni-Tarrant, M.A. eds., 2017. Forensic Anthropology: A Comprehensive

Introduction. CRC Press.

LATHAM, K. E., BARTELINK, E. J., & FINNEGAN, M. (2017). New perspectives in forensic

human skeletal identification.

Pink, C.M., 2018. Review of Forensic Anthropology: A Comprehensive Introduction. Forensic

Anthropology, 1(4), pp.244-246.

Spradley, M. K., &Weisensee,K.,2017. Ancestry Estimation the Importance, The History, and

The Practice. Forensic Anthropology: A Comprehensive Introduction, 163.

YANCEY, D. (2006). The forensic anthropologist.