Instructor: Christyann Darwent, Department of Anthropology, College of Letters and Science
Description: The popularity of television shows such as CSI, and more recently Fox’s weekly drama “Bones”, which is based loosely on the life and books of forensic anthropologist Kathy Reichs, has brought the field of forensic investigation to the public eye. This course will introduce students to the real study of forensic anthropology and human osteology. Students will learn about anthropology and forensic science, taphonomy (also known as decomposition processes), the human skeleton, how to assess and reconstruct identity from bone remains. The course’s objective is to shed light on what can and cannot be learned from skeletal remains and how to more critically evaluate what is portrayed in popular culture.
Format: This freshman seminar will meet for 2 hours each week (Thursdays 10-12, Young Hall 302). Class time will be devoted to informal lectures supplemented with hands-on-learning of human skeletal material, and discussion of readings. In addition discussion will follow student presentations on their “forensic cases”. The course will include a local “field trip” to learn about death investigation.
Texts: Nafte, Myriam (2000) Flesh and Bone: An Introduction to Forensic Anthropology. Carolina Academic Press, Durham. (ISBN: 0-89089-638-0)
Reichs, Kathy (2006) Break no Bones (A Novel). Scribner, New York.
Grading: Students will be awarded a pass/fail grade based on their participation in preparing a group forensic case—data collection, report preparation and oral presentation of results (50%), participation in discussions on the lecture topics and the readings (20%), and a short book report (ca. 750 words) on the novel by Reichs (30%).
About the Instructor: Dr. Christyann Darwent is Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology. Her specialty is the analysis of animal bone remains from archaeological sites, or zooarchaeology, but has also conducted human skeletal analysis on remains from the northern Plains and participated in forensic investigations in the Midwest. She has conducted archaeological field work in Alaska, British Columbia, the Canadian Arctic Islands, the northern Plains, and most recently completed three summers of research in northern Greenland. Dr. Darwent currently teaches courses on introductory archaeology, world prehistory, first inhabitants of the Americas, and zooarchaeology.