The need to incorporate human variation and evolutionary theory in forensic anthropology: A call for reform

Ross, Ann H.; Pilloud, Marin A.

doi:10.1002/ajpa.24384

Cited by 44 publications

(45 citation statements)

References 109 publications

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“…The highest number of publications and associated datasets comply with the justification that more DCs allow for a better assessment of the population variability; (2) In recent years, research networks have expanded (see Figure 2), with new academics and scientific clusters of research, new references being used, and new scholars seeking individual visibility. The known existence of more DCs and the associated data is an interesting trend to consider when assessing future publications, as it may inform on the impact that population-specific datasets (senso lato) have on scientific research and human variability assessments, and it may support a nonracialized paradigm in the assessment of humans, as suggested by Ross and co-authors [13,14]. The TOP5 most cited papers, and those with the highest altmetric scores of the TOP4 journals, can be found in Table 2.…”

Section: Top Of the Tops: The Four Journals With More Publications On...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Since then, other papers have offered an overview of identified collections (henceforth, "documented collections" (DC)), referring, en passant, to some of the abovementioned limitations, but placing the emphasis on the "why" of building such collections, as well as on their importance for scientific development, with a focus on the understanding of human variability and the production of representative samples [10][11][12]. To address human variability was, and is, to oppose the oversimplification and continental classification of humans, as practiced since the 19th century, thereby promoting a much needed new and non-racialized paradigm in the assessment of humans [13,14]. Aligned with the focus on a variability approach to human diversity is the argument of scientific proficiency.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Scientific Profiles of Documented Collections via Publication Data: Past, Present, and Future Directions in Forensic Anthropology

Cardoso

Campanacho

2022

Forensic Sciences

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Human osteological documented collections (DCs), also referred to as “identified collections”, are a valuable resource in biological and forensic anthropology, as they offer the possibility for hypothesis-driven research on sex and age-at-death estimation methods, human variability, and other morphometric-based parameters of individual identification. Consequently, they feature in many publications addressing the forensic sciences. The paper aims to explore the scientific profiles of DCs via publication using bibliometric data. The Dimensions databases were used to select the DC-related keywords in the title and abstracts of the publications. The search result analysis and extraction were conducted using VOSviewer. A total of 376 articles were found, published between 1969 and 2021 (November). The number of publications has increased over the years, specifically after 2011. The results show that most of the publications are associated with countries such as the United States and Portugal (the latter highlights the University of Coimbra), that the research tends to focus on human biological profiling (e.g., age, sex assessments), and that the journals with the highest numbers of publications were related to forensic sciences. This analysis shows a positive correlation between DC publications and the growth of forensic anthropology in recent years, with a slight shift towards the leading institutions that publish DC-based research. Hence, we can anticipate a change in the institutional leading profiles in the years to come.

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Section: Top Of the Tops: The Four Journals With More Publications On...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Scientific Profiles of Documented Collections via Publication Data: Past, Present, and Future Directions in Forensic Anthropology

Cardoso

Campanacho

2022

Forensic Sciences

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“…19 Thus, a tendency of the eradication of the term "race" and a call for a throughout revision of both typology and classification approaches related to human variation is noted. 20,21 In an attempt to minimize the heavy social load while maintaining the pragmatic concordance among geographic origin and skeletal traits, "ancestry" or "population affinity" have been proposed instead, and adopted in current forensic anthropology literature. 5,20 Still, there is an excess of antiquated views of race in even the most current literature, mostly based on the simplistic trifecta of continental populations (European, Asian and African).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ancestry Estimation: Advances and Limitations in Forensic Applications

Flouri¹,

Alifragki²,

García-Donas³

et al. 2022

RRFMS

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Forensic anthropologists are faced with many challenges one of which is setting the grounds for the assessment of an unknown individual's population affinity, an essential element for building a biological profile that can lead to positive identification. A heavy body of literature is dealing with the topic of "race" -in early studies -or "ancestry/population affinity" -in more recent articles -in an effort to provide reliable tools for this challenging task. A great and ongoing debate exists on whether this type of classification should be done at all or whether it should be accepted as a "necessary evil". The over-simplistic categorization of people originating from vast geographical areas without taking into account micro-evolutionary and environmental factors, that are of great importance and influence population affinity, can greatly enhance social discrimination and stigma. On the other hand, it must be stressed that the point of assessing an individual's ancestry or geographic origin in a forensic context is not a matter of taxonomy or population labeling but rather an asset to the identification process, which can help narrow down possible matches from a missing persons' list. In that vein, the current paper offers an overview of different methodological approaches to the matter of ancestry estimation and aims to gather relevant information about the different approaches used, the current advances and the implications of the assessment regarding positive identification.

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“…The Samuel G. Morton Cranial Collection emphasized research on craniology, which was essentially classificatory, with a fixation in racial identification and typology, akin to other European practices of collection creation and use, following the ideas of Johann Blumenbach [2,3]. Although, one is happy to acknowledge that anthropology is slowly moving away from such a classificatory approach to human remains, emphasizing human variation [4][5][6]. Alongside Samuel Morton, other names are associated with the creation of referenced collections, such as Robert J. Terry and William Montague Cobb, amongst others discussed further in this chaptersee [1] and authors therein.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Documented Skeletal Collections and Their Importance in Forensic Anthropology in the United States

2021

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Documented skeletal collections are the backbone of forensic anthropology due to their associated biohistories. This paper describes the identified skeletal collections and their relevance in forensic anthropological research, education and training in the US. The establishment of documented skeletal collections in the US can be distinguished into two modus operandi, depending on the stance towards the dead, legislation, and medical and forensic practices. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, anatomists amassed skeletons from cadaver dissections, shaped by European influences. Those skeletons compose the anatomical collections—such as the Robert J. Terry Anatomical Collection—predominantly representing impoverished and unclaimed individuals. Ethical concerns for the curation and research of African American skeletons without family consent are growing in the US. In contrast, since the 1980s, modern documented skeletal collections originated from body donations to human taphonomy facilities, such as the William M. Bass Donated Skeletal Collection. The establishment and testing of osteological methods essential to establish one’s identity—such as age at death and sex—have been developed with skeletons from documented collections. Therefore, the analysis of identified skeletons has been crucial for the development of forensic anthropology in the US.

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The need to incorporate human variation and evolutionary theory in forensic anthropology: A call for reform

Cited by 44 publications

References 109 publications

The Scientific Profiles of Documented Collections via Publication Data: Past, Present, and Future Directions in Forensic Anthropology

The Scientific Profiles of Documented Collections via Publication Data: Past, Present, and Future Directions in Forensic Anthropology

Ancestry Estimation: Advances and Limitations in Forensic Applications

Documented Skeletal Collections and Their Importance in Forensic Anthropology in the United States

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