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Accepted Paper:

Virtual forensic anthropology  
Roos Eisma (University of Dundee)

Paper short abstract:

In our forensic anthropology practice we are increasingly asked to work with CT scans instead of actual remains. Are our methods and procedures ready for this?

Paper long abstract:

In the past decade the resolution and availability of CT scanning has greatly increased. Scanning human remains for further analysis has a number of advantages: contaminated remains (for example as a result of a chemical, biological or nuclear incident) do not need to be handled beyond the initial scan; skeletal elements can be assessed without the need to remove any remaining soft tissue; and data can more easily be transported, over any distance, than the actual remains.

However, our procedures and methods have been developed for dealing with bones, not images.

Procedures to deal with evidence, from first sight to court, need to be explicit and robust. In this paper we will discuss which procedural aspects need to be addressed.

Our anthropological analysis of the remains needs to be accurate and reliable, and stand up in court. In this paper we will discuss some of the problems with translating our methods from real bone to CT scans, what additional research is needed to develop these techniques, and the need for additional skills and training for practitioners.

Panel P09
Forensic anthropology and its global impact on society
  Session 1