Theses and Dissertations
This collection includes both ASU Theses and Dissertations, submitted by graduate students, and the Barrett, Honors College theses submitted by undergraduate students.
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- All Subjects: Forensic Anthropology
- Creators: School of Mathematical and Natural Sciences
Description
Forensic anthropologists rely on the validated sex determination methods that utilize post-cranial elements in adult remains, but, recently, research has been conducted to determine adult remain sex using just the skull. Similar research for sub-adult remains is lacking the robustness and validation that adult determination methods possess. This study utilized 20 crania measurements taken from CT scans of child patients with known sexes at the Phoenix Children’s Hospital to investigate if a sex determination method could be produced. The measurements were assessed with a t-Test, Linear Discriminant Analysis, and Principle Component Analysis to determine if sexual dimorphism was detectable and if the predictive model had discriminant power when the sample size was categorized by age. The results revealed that a few measurements were dimorphic, but were not statistically significant to determine the sex of a sub-adult outside of the sample population. Future investigations will remove age group classification to observe if this model can predict age.
ContributorsMani, Mary Rachel (Author) / Ferry, Lara (Thesis director) / Falsetti, Anthony (Committee member) / School of Mathematical and Natural Sciences (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution & Social Change (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
Ancestry estimation in forensic anthropology has been one of the most complex determinations to make from the human skeleton. There is a long history in biological anthropology using different morphological characteristics from the skull and other areas of the skeleton but it remains a difficult estimation that always has some variability. Currently, more studies have been conducted in morphological and metric methods from the skull of ancestry estimation to better the accuracy of the determination. Since most forensic cases are not in the best condition, there also must be other estimation methods from other bones from the remains such as the cervical vertebrae and the femur. These methods have some degree of accuracy but are not as commonly used in forensic cases as the skull is. It seems that the best method for ancestry estimation is to use a combination of multiple methods, having multiple lines of evidence. With the advent of DNA, many researchers have started to study the use of DNA in ancestry estimation. Genetics can be used in ancestry estimation as certain populations have allele frequencies that can be quantified. Using ancestry informative markers (AIMS), DNA can be used to estimate the ancestry of an individual as well as the amount of admixture in the individual. Many different methods have been tested in genetic evaluation of ancestry and have been supported with good accuracy. However, DNA analysis is expensive and time consuming, putting more reliance on osteological methods. Social implications have had a tremendous impact on the fate of ancestry estimation in forensic anthropology. Anthropology has generally rejected the notion of races but it is still used in forensics due to how much it is inculcated into everyday society. Also, the overarching theme of admixture is becoming more prevalent in society. This causes the estimations in forensic anthropology to be extremely difficult. If more research into ancestry estimation does not continue, the determination will almost be impossible to be made.
ContributorsDowell, Kori Kalei (Author) / Falsetti, Anthony (Thesis director) / Kanthaswamy, Sreetharan (Committee member) / School of Human Evolution and Social Change (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Natural Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12