Forensic anthropology is a sub-field in physical anthropology. Physical anthropology is the study of human remains, so in a forensics department, the anthropologist role is to apply skeletal analysis, procedures, and approach in archeology to solve criminal cases. Anthropologists can almost effortlessly examine the skeleton, whether it is from modern or ancient times. It is important to the world of forensic science because they can determine who was it that died, when they died, and how they died.
By looking at the size, shape, and development of the bones they are able to figure out the body’s gender and whether the skeleton was a child or an adult. If the person was diseased or had received trauma, abnormal size, shape, or density of the bone would be indicators for that. Also, forensic anthropologists may also help with excavating and locating the human remains. Their skills aren’t only limited to criminal investigation, they can also find work in other fields such as the military
The starting salary for a forensic anthropologist is less than $40,000 annually. However, it is difficult to be certain due to different factors. Then when the worker becomes more experienced the average salary is $64,290 a year, while the top ten percent made $97,040 or more per year. The level of education someone would need is first your high school diploma and an undergraduate degree in a field such as anthropology, biology or forensic science.
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Then you would need your masters’ degree and a PhD is recommended, but not required. I chose to write about forensic anthropologists because, for my career, I would like to be a nurse practitioner that specializes in orthopedics. Orthopedics focuses on the musculoskeletal system, so that relates to the career I decided to write about because they both have to do with bones. Over the past few decades, forensic anthropology has because more and more popular due to well-known cases, like the John F. Kennedy assassination, and due to television shows, such as Bones.
An example of a forensic anthropologist is a woman named Clea Koff. She was born in 1972 in London, England. Clea Koff spent her childhood traveling to places like Kenya, Tanzania, Somalia, and the United States. Then she decided to move to the United States as a young adult to pursue her bachelor’s degree in anthropology from Stanford University. Then she went to the master’s program at the University of Arizona in forensic anthropology and completed her master’s degree at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1999.
Clea Koff worked for the United Nations between the years of 1996 and 2000. She also released three books called The Bone Women, Freezing, and Freezing: Thriller. In 2005 Clea Koff founded a non-profit organization called The Missing Persons Identification Resource Center (MPID). The organization is run out of Los Angeles, California and its main goal is to link unidentified bodies in coroner’s offices in the United States to the body’s family.
