Forensic Anthropology Training Manual, The [Plastic Comb]

Karen Ramey Burns (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 6, 1999

This new book focuses on the challenges and responsibilities of the forensic scientist, the multidisciplinary nature of the work, and the international potential for the forensic sciences. An excellent introduction to the realities of the profession of forensic scientist. Trains in the description and analysis of human skeletal and dental remains. Offers a well-illustrated approach to osteology training, including: a concentration on vocabulary-building, the use of case studies, and a structured approach to skeletal analysis and report-writing. An excellent text for those considering the field of forensic science.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

This new book focuses on the challenges and responsibilities of the forensic scientist, the multidisciplinary nature of the work, and the international potential for the forensic sciences. An excellent introduction to the realities of the profession of forensic scientist. Trains in the description and analysis of human skeletal and dental remains. Offers a well-illustrated approach to osteology training, including: a concentration on vocabulary-building, the use of case studies, and a structured approach to skeletal analysis and report-writing. An excellent text for those considering the field of forensic science.

About the Author

Karen Ramey Burns is a practicing forensic anthropologist, teacher, writer, and human rights worker. She received her graduate education in forensic anthropology under the direction of the late Dr. William R. Maples at the University of Florida and developed experience in major crime laboratory procedures while working for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Division of Forensic Sciences. She continues to serve the state of Georgia as a consultant in forensic anthropology and as an appointed member of the Georgia Council on American Indian Concerns. She has testified as an expert witness in local,
state, and international cases.

 

Dr. Burns has devoted much of her professional career to international work, providing educational and technical assistance in the excavation and identification of human remains in Latin America, Haiti, the Middle East, and Africa. She documented war crimes in Iraq after the Gulf War (1991) and provided testimony in the Raboteau Trial in Gonaïve, Haiti (2000). She is the author of the “Protocol for Disinterment and Analysis of Skeletal Remains,” in the Manual for the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-Legal, Arbitrary, and Summary Executions (1991), a United Nations publication.

 

In times of national emergency, she works for the National Disaster Medical System, part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. She was deployed for the Katrina/Rita Hurricanes disaster in 2005, Tri-State Crematory incident in 2002, the World Trade Center terrorist attack in 2001, the Tarboro, North Carolina, flood in 1999, and the Flint River flood of 1994.

Dr. Burns has contributed to several historic research projects, including a study of the Phoenician genocide in North Africa (Carthage), the identification of the revolutionary war hero Casimir Pulaski, and the search for Amelia Earhart. Dr. Burns is a coauthor of the award-winning book Amelia Earhart’s Shoes, Is the Mystery Solved? (2001), a discourse on the archaeological investigation.

 

Her research interests include microstructure of mineralized tissues, effects of burning and cremation, and decomposition. She teaches human osteology, forensic anthropology, and human origins at the University of Georgia, as well as forensic anthropology and expert witness testimony for the U.S. Department of Justice’s International Criminal Investigative Training
Assistance Program (ICITAP).

 

Dr. Burns is presently the Director of Field Investigations for EQUITAS,the Colombian Interdisciplinary Team for Forensic Work and Psychosocial Assistance, Bogotá, Colombia.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Plastic Comb: 282 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall (January 6, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0130105767
• ISBN-13: 978-0130105769
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 8.8 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #955,162 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THIS BOOK IS GREAT!!!!, October 14, 2003

By 

ERWIN ERFE (JONELTA FOUNDATION SCHOOL OF MEDICINE, PHILIPPINES) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Forensic Anthropology Training Manual, The (Plastic Comb)

I am physician-lawyer from the Philippines. I practice in the field of Clinical Forensic Medicine with special interest in Forensic Anthropology. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in forensics-be they lawyers, physicians, judges and law enforcement officers. This book is "the" book if you want to get started in forensic anthropology and forensic osteology.It provides an introduction to osteology and how it is used to determine age, sex and race. The book outlines the basics of laboratory analysis of skeletal remains, field methods used in forensic anthropology,documentation, report writing, court testimony, and human rights application of forensic anthropology. Forensic forms used in actual cases are even included.

The book is highly recommended to students of forensic anthropology and a must read for professionals from other subspeciaties of forensics, lawyers and judges who deal with forensic cases.

39 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A comprehensive text for my students. Highly recommended!, August 3, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Canada.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Forensic Anthropology Training Manual, The (Plastic Comb)

I am using this text in the anthropology lab with my students of Introduction to Forensic Sciences. As a former student of Dr. Ramey Burns, I am convinced she is an excellent educator who enjoys working with new generations of forensic scientists. Students from First World societies find chapter 15 extremely helpful in our seminar discussions about the importance to learn and to respect local cultures when investigating all sort of crimes. For the next edition of the manual, I would like to recommend the inclusion of scientific advancements in Latin America the author has contributed to develop. For instance, normative standards from populations with Latin American biological affiliation may be used in the identification of skeletal remains here in North America.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars GREAT BOOK, July 18, 2007

By 

C. Buckley "boonorton" (Missoula, MT USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Forensic Anthropology Training Manual, The (2nd Edition) (Spiral-bound)

I used this book for my Intro to Foensic Anbthropology class and continued to use it in Grad School. It is the only book I can find that has age determination from sternal rib ends.(not even "Standards" has it). HIGHLY recommend!