Authors
Dr. Ranjeet Kumar Singh, Mahesh Sharma, Sheza Azeen
Abstract
In the recent time, the anthropology has been developed to the extent where it is able to give the positive and satisfactory result regarding the identification of unknown person. There are many cases where only some skeletal remains or even single bones are found where the anthropologists face the challenges to establish the biological identity. In the identification, the scientist try to find out the age, race, stature, and sex of an individual through the skeletal remains. Now, to narrow down the identity aspect, the body mas has been included in the biological profile. There are very less research available on it but some studies are available play the significant role in the anthropological field. The body mass has the relation with the bones in the form of bone density, shape, size etc. this paper review those studies which worked on the estimation of body mass through skeletal remains. Keywords: Body Mass, Skeletal Remains, Biological Profile
Introduction
The forensic anthropologist is a specialists that face many challenges during the investigation of mass disaster, genocides etc. The aim of anthropologist is to determine the biological profile of an individuals through their skeletal remains. It proves very helpful when the missing person report, or the description of loved one is present during the match a set of skeletal remains. Through these description or report, numerous biological characteristics are estimated from the skeletal remains such as age, sex, race, stature, broken bones and certain diseases. There are some characteristics which cannot be discerned from the skeletal remains like tattoos, scars and body weight.
The determination of body weight is the most important aspect of biological profile which has not been investigated but there are some studies which shows that the body weight or body mass can be discern the distal humerus and femur measurements. In 1957, Baker and Newman studied and focus on the dry bone weight of the longest bone (femur) and also the entire skeleton to estimate the living body weight. Morse et al felt that the wright of the skeleton and total body weight do not have any relation as the body weight is altered by osteoporosis, prolonged illness and other endocrine disturbances.
In the biological anthropology research, the estimation of body mass through skeletal remains is considered as a vital feature. According to the paleoanthropological and bio archaeological contexts through the estimation of body mass, the biological and behavioral information can be achieved. The motive of the determination of mass is to find out the environment and evolutionary significance of differences among peoples living at different places and in different times.
References
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| APA Style | Singh, R. K., Sharma, M. and Azeen, S. (2018). Estimation of Body Mass from Skeletal Remains. Academic Journal of Anthropological Studies, 1(2), 16-19. |
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