Biological Affinity in Forensic Identification of Human Skeletal Remains: Beyond Black and White
ISBN: 9780429245046
Platform/Publisher: Taylor & Francis / CRC Press
Digital rights: Users: Unlimited; Printing: Unlimited; Download: Unlimited
Subjects: Bioscience; Law; Social Sciences; Forensic Science; Forensic Science - Law; Anthropology;

Ancestry determination in the identification of unknown remains can be a challenge for forensic scientists and anthropologists, especially when the remains available for testing are limited. There are various techniques for the assessment of ancestry, ranging from traditional to new microbiological and computer-assisted methods. Biological Affinity


Gregory E. Berg, PhD, D-ABFA, is a laboratory manager and forensic anthropologist at the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii, where he works on the recovery and identification of missing US service personnel. He has more than 19 years of field experience in archaeology and physical anthropology and has presented or published numerous articles and papers in the Journal of Forensic Sciences, Journal of Archaeological Science, and Optometry, as well as at various annual meetings. His recent research has concentrated on ancestry and sex determination, trauma analysis, aging techniques, human identification and eyewear, and intra- and interobserver error studies, which have been particularly focused on aging and population determination methods used in human identification.

Sabrina C. Ta ala, MA, MBA, is an adjunct professor at Pikes Peak Community College and a lecturer at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, teaching courses in forensic, physical, and cultural anthropology. She spent nine years as a forensic anthropologist at the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command Central Identification Laboratory. Her research interests have included historical archaeology in the southeastern United States, testing of geophysical tools as a method for detection of clandestine graves, assessing cranial nonmetric traits in Southeast Asian skeletal collections, and identifying cranial trauma in remains of Khmer Rouge victims in Cambodia. Ta ala's work has been published in the Journal of Forensic Sciences and Journal of Forensic Identification and been presented at a variety of national archaeological and forensics conferences.

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