Transcript Forensic Anthropology in Australia: What can the anthropologist

10 years of anthropological
case work based in New
South Wales
Denise Donlon
Department of Anatomy and Histology, &
Department of Forensic Medicine
University of Sydney
New South Wales
Australia
Brief history of forensic
anthropology in Australia
• Origins in 19th Century discipline of anatomy
• Closely linked to military action (in USA)
• Slow beginnings in Australia
- no collections of war dead
- dependent on case work
Aims
• To present a survey of 10 years of anthropological
casework from NSW - with an emphasis on the
ancestry and antiquity of the cases.
• To draw attention to the importance of standard
methods of recording and the production of a databank
for this region.
Cases requested by:
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Museums +Aboriginal communities
National Parks & Wildlife Service
Consultant archaeologists
Police
Australian Defence Forces
NSW Department of Forensic Medicine
Aboriginal communities repatriation from museums
National Parks and Wildlife Service
Often recorded in situ
Consultant archaeologists
eg. historic sites
Prince of Wales Destitute Children’s Asylum
Police
Excavation + recording in situ
Australian Defence Forces
Recovery of war dead
War dead
Mass disasters
Indonesian Tsunami 2004
-crash of Royal
Australian
navy’s Sea
King helicopter
2005
- 9 dead
New South Wales Department of
Forensic Medicine
• Approximately
100 cases in 10
years
Information collected
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Total number of cases
Ancestry/Race
Antiquity
Sex
Age
Stature
Taphonomic
Number of cases
1992 - 2003
18
16
14
12
10
N
8
6
4
2
0
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
Year
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
Ancestry
European
Non-European
Mixed
Ancestry of forensic cases
14
12
10
8
N
6
4
2
0
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
2000
2001
2002
Year
European
Non-European
Mixed
2003
Non-European
Aboriginal
Asian
Melanesian
Polynesian
Non-European cases
5
4
3
2
1
20
03
20
02
20
01
20
00
99
98
97
96
95
94
93
0
92
N
Year
Aboriginal
Asian
Melanesian
Polynesian
Is there a need for further study of
ancestry?
1. Australia and
neighbouring regions
contain very diverse
groups of people
2. Populations show regional
variation in
- sex, age, stature
3. Increasing problem of
mixed ancestry
4. A mass disaster will result
in diversity of ancestry
Problems in investigating ancestry in
this region
• The lack of a skeletal collections representing the
major group - Europeans
• Recent changes to the NSW Human Tissue Act 1983
make research on identified skeletons difficult without
consent
• The repatriation of indigenous remains without
documentation or standardised documentation
• Police and anthropologists may have a different
understanding of ancestry/race
Antiquity
Prehistoric
Historic
Modern
Antiquity
12
10
8
N
6
4
2
0
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
2000
2001
2002
Y ear
P rehi s toric
His t ori c
Modern
2003
Antiquity
• Estimating time elapsed since death is problematic and
very dependant on local environmental conditions
• Each of the following scenarios come under different
legislation:
< 50 years for forensic cases
>50 years for historic (non-Aboriginal) cases
>50 but <100 years for historic Aboriginal cases
>100 years for ‘prehistoric’ Aboriginal cases
Conclusions
• Increasing diversity of ancestry of cases being examined
at the NSW Institute of Forensic Medicine.
• Great range and complexity of antiquity of cases
• This type of survey and subsequent research should
provide support for expert witness testimony.
Further work
• Need for a workshop of anthropologists to
discuss regionally appropriate methods of
identification
• Need for a databank of Australian cases to build up
population specific standards for assessment of age,
sex and stature.
• Such a databank will provide the basis for future
research and collaborative projects
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THANK YOU