ASM 275 EVALUATION EXAMS 2025/2026 ANSWERS AND
QUESTIONS GRADED A+
✔✔Sources of variation in the human skeleton - ✔✔Age
Sex
Ancestry
Muscularity
Pathology
Congenital
Infectious
Health/dietary conditions
✔✔Forensic Anthropology - ✔✔Field of study that deals with skeletonized or
decomposed remains for the purpose of adding in a legal investigation
✔✔Forensic Anthropologist - ✔✔Analysis of bone trauma vs. pathology
Determine age, living stature, sex, ancestry or skeletal remains
Recover remains
Analyze unique features to help identify
Assess postmortem interval
✔✔Establishing the Forensic Context - ✔✔1) Is it bone at all?
2) Is it human bone or non-human bone?
3) If it is human, is it of medico-legal significance?
✔✔Histological Differences - in Humans - ✔✔Circular osteons
Random osteons
Various sized osteons
✔✔Histological Differences - in Animals - ✔✔Osteons + other
Can be banded
Plexiform, brick-like layers
✔✔Livor Mortis - ✔✔Discoloration of body due to settling of blood and other bodily fluids
Apparent at 1-2 hours
Well-developed at 3-4 hours
Fixed at 8-12 hours
✔✔Alvor Mortis - ✔✔Body temperature drops following death
Rectal temp drops 2 degrees Celsius for the first hour, drops 1 degree Celsius
thereafter, until reaches ambient room temperature
✔✔Rigor Mortis - ✔✔Occurs due to chemical binding of muscle fibers - muscles lock in
place, results in stiffness
Apparent within 1-2 hours
, Complete stiffness in 12 hours
Released in 24-48 hours
✔✔Autolysis - ✔✔Results from cell death and action of enzymes that work against the
cell and destroy it
✔✔Putrefaction - ✔✔Consumption of body by endogenous bacteria
✔✔How To Estimate Postmortem Interval - ✔✔1) The Mortises
2) Autolysis vs. Putrefaction
3) Forensic Entomology
4) Skeletal Deterioration
✔✔Forensic Taphonomy - ✔✔Science of burial
Studies what happens to the body from time of death to discovery
Useful for establishing postmortem interval
✔✔Datum - ✔✔The fixed reference point in provenience
✔✔Provenience - ✔✔Location of items in 3D in reference to a fixed reference point
✔✔Importance of Archaeological Context - ✔✔Relationships of objects determines their
significance
✔✔Indicators that a body has been out on the surface of the ground - ✔✔Extreme
scattering of bones by animals
Covering of remains by leaves
Dead vegetation and new growth
Partial or complete self-burial
✔✔How to spot a clandestine grave - ✔✔Disturbed vegetation
Soil compaction
Secondary depression
Disturbed soil
✔✔Archaeological Recovery - ✔✔1) Location
2) Mapping
3) Excavation (if buried)
4) Collection
✔✔Manner of death - ✔✔The manner in which the cause of death comes into being
Ex: homicide, suicide, accident, natural
✔✔Cause of death - ✔✔Disease/injury that initiates a sequence of events that result in
death
QUESTIONS GRADED A+
✔✔Sources of variation in the human skeleton - ✔✔Age
Sex
Ancestry
Muscularity
Pathology
Congenital
Infectious
Health/dietary conditions
✔✔Forensic Anthropology - ✔✔Field of study that deals with skeletonized or
decomposed remains for the purpose of adding in a legal investigation
✔✔Forensic Anthropologist - ✔✔Analysis of bone trauma vs. pathology
Determine age, living stature, sex, ancestry or skeletal remains
Recover remains
Analyze unique features to help identify
Assess postmortem interval
✔✔Establishing the Forensic Context - ✔✔1) Is it bone at all?
2) Is it human bone or non-human bone?
3) If it is human, is it of medico-legal significance?
✔✔Histological Differences - in Humans - ✔✔Circular osteons
Random osteons
Various sized osteons
✔✔Histological Differences - in Animals - ✔✔Osteons + other
Can be banded
Plexiform, brick-like layers
✔✔Livor Mortis - ✔✔Discoloration of body due to settling of blood and other bodily fluids
Apparent at 1-2 hours
Well-developed at 3-4 hours
Fixed at 8-12 hours
✔✔Alvor Mortis - ✔✔Body temperature drops following death
Rectal temp drops 2 degrees Celsius for the first hour, drops 1 degree Celsius
thereafter, until reaches ambient room temperature
✔✔Rigor Mortis - ✔✔Occurs due to chemical binding of muscle fibers - muscles lock in
place, results in stiffness
Apparent within 1-2 hours
, Complete stiffness in 12 hours
Released in 24-48 hours
✔✔Autolysis - ✔✔Results from cell death and action of enzymes that work against the
cell and destroy it
✔✔Putrefaction - ✔✔Consumption of body by endogenous bacteria
✔✔How To Estimate Postmortem Interval - ✔✔1) The Mortises
2) Autolysis vs. Putrefaction
3) Forensic Entomology
4) Skeletal Deterioration
✔✔Forensic Taphonomy - ✔✔Science of burial
Studies what happens to the body from time of death to discovery
Useful for establishing postmortem interval
✔✔Datum - ✔✔The fixed reference point in provenience
✔✔Provenience - ✔✔Location of items in 3D in reference to a fixed reference point
✔✔Importance of Archaeological Context - ✔✔Relationships of objects determines their
significance
✔✔Indicators that a body has been out on the surface of the ground - ✔✔Extreme
scattering of bones by animals
Covering of remains by leaves
Dead vegetation and new growth
Partial or complete self-burial
✔✔How to spot a clandestine grave - ✔✔Disturbed vegetation
Soil compaction
Secondary depression
Disturbed soil
✔✔Archaeological Recovery - ✔✔1) Location
2) Mapping
3) Excavation (if buried)
4) Collection
✔✔Manner of death - ✔✔The manner in which the cause of death comes into being
Ex: homicide, suicide, accident, natural
✔✔Cause of death - ✔✔Disease/injury that initiates a sequence of events that result in
death
