Academic literature on the topic 'Physical anthropology|Forensic anthropology|Biomechanics'

The professionalization of forensic anthropology in North America began with the establishment of the Physical Anthropology section (now Anthropology Section) of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS) in 1972 and the development of the American Board of Forensic Anthropology (ABFA) board certification program in 1977–78. This review first outlines the history of ABFA board certification, then discusses temporal trends among ABFA diplomate recipients, ABFA leadership, and ABFA qualification requirements (i.e., examination structure and content). The data reveal that ABFA demographic and qualification developments mirror academic trends in the discipline over the past four decades. Our assessment indicates substantial growth of the ABFA from the year 2000 to present, a shorter waiting period between receipt of the PhD and board certification, and a significant shift toward a membership and leadership reflective of a younger cohort with greater representation by women. Changes in ABFA qualifications, as revealed by an exam content review over this period, reflect many of the academic trends we have seen in our discipline as a whole, including greater specialization, reliance on technological advancements, recognition of population variability, and the need to accurately measure and mitigate error and bias. With the increased availability of DNA analysis, biological profile research and expertise may be giving way to other specializations within forensic anthropology, including bone morphology, skeletal growth and development, fracture biomechanics, fracture healing, and taphonomy, including time since death estimation.

Abstract Cranial base angle, vertebral dimensions, vertebral curvature, and locomotive behavior differ among Homo, Pan, and Gorilla; but many distinctions are obfuscated by dimensional and behavioral overlap among the genera and their fossil relatives. To address these issues, cranial and vertebral measurements (suites) were examined among Homo, Gorilla, and Pan as representative hominines for their posture and locomotion or positional-locomotory complexes. An additional analysis considered Australopithecus afarensis (A.L. 288-1 and A.L. 333) for comparative purposes. Using size-adjusted values with applied Bonferroni adjusted alpha levels, significant results for both the Kruskal-Wallis H-test and Mann-Whitney U-tests indicated statistically significant differences among species for cranial base angle (p = 0.000) and vertebral body dimensions with coronal and sagittal facet orientation (p = 0.000 ? 0.003). Detected significance was present for thoracic and lumbar curvature (p = 0.000) and positional-locomotory complex (p = 0.000) among species, albeit only cranial base angle was significant for the Pan-Gorilla comparison. Moreover, post hoc Spearman?s rho tests indicated significant results (p = 0.000 ? 0.009) with strong positive and negative correlations throughout the column for each species. However, no pattern among vertebral measurements throughout the vertebral column was detected. Lastly, Multinomial Logistic Regression yielded a correct classification percentage with significant model fit (p = 0.000) of 86.4% for the cranial base, 82.8-97.0% for all subsequent vertebrae, and 80.3% for thoracic and lumbar curvature among species. Positional locomotory complexes were also significant (p = 0.000) and yielded a correct classification percentage of 82.2% among bipeds and the two modes of knuckle-walking practiced by Pan and Gorilla respectively. However, misclassifications between human and nonhuman primates for cranial base angle and calculated vertebral curvature suggest that these variables are not viable for assessing either genera or positional-locomotory complexes. Lastly, both Australopithecus afarensis specimens (A.L. 288-1 and A.L. 333) were incorrectly classified. The A.L. 288-1 specimen identified as Homo and the misclassification of A.L. 333 as Pan suggest either species or vertebra misidentification. Overall, the data indicate that both vertebral corpus dimensions and coronal and sagittal facet orientations differ significantly among hominine taxa and can distinguish species and their respective posturo-locomotory complex. As for the evolutionary implications, human bipedalism is distinct as related to cranial base angle and vertebral measurements; however significant differences between Pan and Gorilla suggest homoplasy among measurements and denote parallelism for the emergence of knuckle-walking.