Topic > Forensic Archeology Today

Today, forensic archeology is considered an established and reliable subdiscipline of physical anthropology and can be defined as the application of archaeological techniques and principles relating to research, recovery and excavation of human finds and faunal remains, buried testimonies and even missing people; that aids forensic or medico-legal investigations. (Marquez-Grant and Roberts, 2012) Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay During the early years of the twentieth century, anthropology and surrounding subdisciplines were pioneered in the United States, but struggled to gain recognition as a valid and reliable science initially. (Stewart, T.D., 1979). Earnest Hooten founded the field of physical anthropology and became the first anthropologist to hold a full-time position in the United States. (Shapiro, H. L, 1954) Furthermore, another prominent anthropologist, Thomas Wingate Todd, was primarily responsible for creating the first major collection of human skeletons in 1912 and his contributions to the field of anthropology remain in use to this day. . These early pioneers formalized the field of anthropology, but it was not until the 1940s, with the help of Todd's student, Wilton M. Krogman, that forensic anthropology gained recognition as a legitimate subdiscipline. Krugman was the first anthropologist to actively publicize the potential forensic value of anthropologists, going so far as to place advertisements in the FBI's law enforcement bulletin to inform agencies of anthropologists' ability to assist in the identification of skeletal remains. During the 1950s, the U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps employed forensic anthropologists to identify war casualties during the Korean War. It was during this period that forensic anthropology was officially born in the United States. REPAIR. Furthermore, in the UK, Margaret Cox was one of the first groups of forensic archaeologists to both undertake casework in a criminal context and reflect on the work in writing. Cox's historical approach to the development of forensic anthropology and archeology is also evident in the way he combined the practice of international mass atrocity exhumations with the identification, research, location and excavation of individual inhumations clandestine operations most commonly associated with investigations of major national crimes. – a theme that could be considered a direct reflection of the period of development of these disciplines. (Blau and Ubelaker, 2016) While the lack of definitive recognition of these disciplines in some countries has resulted in limited use and growth of forensic anthropologists and archaeologists in a domestic context. However, other countries have sought to bring subject areas into the contemporary mainstream through increased accreditation of experts and practitioners, academic respectability, the expansion of organized university and training courses, and better support for detailed reporting and research. Subsequently, after the widespread use of forensic anthropologists and archaeologists in the mid-1990s in post-conflict sites, the role of disciplines in global contexts (e.g., in international criminal tribunals or in acts of terrorism) in locating, recovering, recording and analysis of physical evidence to prosecute major human rights violations related to mass executions is now very well established.