Anthropological Studies
[Abbr: Acd. Jr. AJASt]Bite Marks: A Forensic Odontological Evidence
by Neha Sharma, Lakshika Vaishnav
Forensic Odontology is the branch of applied science that deals with the proper handling, examination and evaluation of dental evidence which is used in the court of law. It plays a vital role in the identification of a person when other methods cannot be used such as in case of decomposed body or in case of mass destruction. Bite marks are found in offensive cases like sexual assault or in cases involving biting for self-defense. Bite marks should be photographed as soon as possible to prevent loss of evidence due to healing process of skin in case of living victim or decomposition in case of dead body or deformation in case of bite mark present on food, its casting should also be made for further comparison as it possesses fine details of the impression. Forensic odontologist plays a major role in the process of identification of the person utilizing different comparison techniques such as odontometric triangle method, image perception software method and special methods such as Vectron Method, Stereometric Graphic Analysis, Scanning Electron Microscopic analysis. Key Words: Bite Marks, Odontology, Identification, Analysis
Discrimination of Two Communities of Punjab on the Basis of Craniofacial Measurements
by Damanpreet Kaur, Mayank, Uttam Singh
Somatometry is a type of anthropometry which includes measurements of living beings as well as cadavers of the body including head and face. In cases where the body is mutilated/ decomposed and it is difficult to recognize the person from the face, it can be possible to identify the person from the bones of the skull and face. The present study is conducted on two different communities of Punjab state that are JATT SIKHS and BRAHMINS. The sample size comprises 400 healthy males including 200 of each community between the age of 25-35 years. The present study aims to find different indices which include different cranial measurements such as maximum head length, maximum head breadth, maximum head height, the circumference of the head, minimum breadth of the frontotemporal, maximum breadth of zygomatic breadth, maximum breadth of bigonial, physiogonic facial height, morphological facial height, nasal height, nasal breadth, lip length, lip breadth, ear length and ear breadth of the right ear. The study revealed that both the communities follow the almost same trend in all calculations. Very few differences can be seen in the comparative values of both communities. According to different indices, the shapes of both communities fall under the same category. The detailed study is presented below. The data obtained in the present study may be useful to distinguish the two major communities of Punjab (India) and can be used in anthropological research, forensic cases. Key Words: Somatometry, Zygomatic Breadth, Anthropometry, Cranial measurement
Linguistic Anthropology: A Prolegomenon
by Gurpreet Kaur, Nirja Singh
Human beings have been utilizing language from the inception of time to encode knowledge, pass that encoded knowledge on to subsequent generations, for communication purposes, and the foremost reason is to entertain ourselves. Linguistic anthropology is a multifaceted discipline that is purely devoted to the study of dialects and vernaculars (language) from an anthropological point of view. In group membership, the establishment of ideologies as well as cultural beliefs, and in social identity, a huge role is played by a language. The study of language socialization, political events, rituals verbal arts, scientific discourse, encounters in everyday life, a shift in language, language contact, media, and literacy events, all of these studies are ventured by Linguistic anthropologists. Language does not view alone, it is looked at as interdependent on the social as well as cultural structures. Language, as a social and cultural practice, is entwined fundamentally with movement’s multifaceted dimensions that specify human life. It is an attempt of this discipline of understanding language from dynamism’s holistic prospect which is responsible of keeping anthropological linguistics prevalent as well as pertinent to the world. Key Words: Linguistic Anthropology, Anthropological Linguistics, Language, Dialects.