A cover letter on forensic anthropology?

Question

i just need a sample

Answer 1

Hi Max,

Could you give me more info on what you need? If so, I might be able to help......

Let me know...

Sarah

Hummm, in your asignment, are you applying for a job in Forensic Anthro? Wanting to apply for a dig? Applying to a school to study?

Beyond that Forensic Anthropology can entail two distinct areas.

One can be the physical recovery of civilizations, this means going to a dig and researching the remains of the civilization that was there.

Another and perhaps more relavent section is the recovery of bodies in current situations. Much has been made in the recent years to the recovery of soldiers and victims of mass executions in addition to missing persons.  

The forensic anthropologist works very closely with local agencies to identify the bodies and artifacts involved in a death. The main factors used in forensic studies are:

Osteology, the study of bones

Dentition, the study of teeth

Ethnobotany, the study of plant remains and pollen

http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/biology/fore...

Sometimes these bodies are in a complete stage of decay and are just bones. But from these bones you can learn many things. Whether or not the victim was male or female.... a close approximation of the race and age of the person. There may be indications of the COD (cause of Death) and TOD(time of Death)  from the recovered bones. There can also be indications of work/hobbies by how the bones are worn or in extreme cases if there was prior abuse.... mended broken bones etc.

When the bones are processed all of this information is cataloged and compared to missing persons. One of the more interesting aspects to this section is the forensic "artist".

They are people that are trained in the anatomy of the body and can recreate the "look" of the deceased. This is done through computer generated graphics (some really neat programs for this) or the old fashioned way, which is literally puting markers on the skull, filling in the blanks with clay and regenerating the look of skin, hair and eyes based on the approximation of race/age/s*x.

http://www.fbi.gov/hq/lab/fsc/backissu/j...

The artifacts around the body can be usefull as well. In the case of a murder/ missing person, items found at the scene can yeild clues as to how long the victim has been there, other people or animals that have come in contact with the victim....

The foremost expert in this field is William M. Bass, PhD. He started the "body farm". This is where bodies are placed in various situations and decay is allowed to take place. The information gleaned from here has been amazing!

other sites worth checking out:

http://people.uncw.edu/albertm/

http://www.all-about-forensic-science.co...

http://www.crimeandclues.com/entomology_...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forensic_an...

http://web.utk.edu/~anthrop/index.htm

***** this one is the best:

http://library.med.utah.edu/kw/osteo/for...

So, Max, I am not sure that I answered your question. If I can help more, please feel free to contact me.....

Sarah