Revision summary
Forensic anthropology identifies unknown remains from bone. It estimates age, sex, stature, and trauma. Disaster and rights work use the same kit. DNA supplements morphology. Taphonomy stops over-reading every crack as a crime.
Model answer
Introduction
Forensic anthropology applies osteology and human variation to legal identification. It reads bone when soft tissue will not name the person.
Body
Tasks
- Estimate age, sex, stature, and a broad ancestry from the skeleton.
- Read trauma, burning, and time since death, with taphonomy as a caution.
- Assist DVI after disasters and human-rights exhumations, as Clyde Snow showed.
Methods
- Pelvis and skull for sex; pubic symphysis and dentition for age; long-bone regression for stature.
- DNA from bone now joins, it does not erase, morphological skill.
- Indian practice sits in forensic medicine departments with anthropology support.
Flow diagram
flowchart TD FA[Forensic anthropology] --> BP[Age sex stature] FA --> TR[Trauma taphonomy] FA --> ID[DVI DNA records]
Conclusion
- Forensic anthropology is legal osteology: a biological profile and trauma from remains, then a match to records or DNA.
Quick related
Students also ask
-
Elucidate the biological and cultural factors in Human evolution.
Next question in the 2016 paper (Q6). View answer →
-
Can a skull give a legal name?
It gives a profile. Name usually needs dental records, implants, or DNA.
-
Is ancestry the same as race?
It is a statistical resemblance to reference series, used with care and not as a folk race.
PYQ trend
When UPSC asked this
Related PYQs from other years, newest first. Open a question to read it.
-
2022 · Q5(b) · Anthropology GS 1 · 10 marks
Genetic imprinting in human diseases -
2022 · Q8(c) · Anthropology GS 1 · 15 marks
Discuss how anthropological knowledge of the human body may be used in designing equipments and articles of human use -
2021 · Q6(b) · Anthropology GS 1 · 15 marks
How are the cases of disputed paternity solved? Discuss the recent techniques -
2021 · Q7(c) · Anthropology GS 1 · 15 marks
What is Anthropometry? Discuss its role in assessing the nutritional status and sports capability of a person -
2016 · Q8(a) · Anthropology GS 1 · 20 marks
Describe the role of Anthropology in designing defence and other equipment. -
2015 · Q5(e) · Anthropology GS 1 · 10 marks
DNA technology in Medicine. -
2015 · Q7(c) · Anthropology GS 1 · 15 marks
Elucidate the role of Anthropology in selection and monitoring of sports persons -
2015 · Q8(a) · Anthropology GS 1 · 20 marks
Forensic Science can help in criminal investigations. Discuss
More from this paper
Q1(a) · UPSC Mains 2016 · Anthropology GS 1 · 10 marks
Differences between Social Anthropology and Sociology.
The Nature of Society
Social anthropology grew from intensive fieldwork in small-scale societies. Sociology grew from industrial class, state, and survey. Malinowski versus Durkheim is the textbook origin split. Srinivas and Béteille show the Indian overlap. The wall is departmental, not a law of nature.
Q1(b) · UPSC Mains 2016 · Anthropology GS 1 · 10 marks
Cultural Relativism
The Nature of Culture
Relativism asks that custom be read in its own history. Boas used it against unilinear racial stages. Herskovits and Benedict spread it as method and public teaching. It is a brake on ethnocentrism, not a moral blank cheque. Rights debates mark its political edge.
Q1(c) · UPSC Mains 2016 · Anthropology GS 1 · 10 marks
Lineage and Clan
Kinship
Lineage members can show genealogical links to an ancestor. Clan members share a putative ancestor and often a totem. Lineages nest inside clans in many segmentary systems. Nuer feud and fusion made the distinction famous. Both groups are commonly exogamous.
Toppers' copies
Toppers' copies for this question will be uploaded soon.