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15.10: Key Terms

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    71756
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    Antemortem trauma: Trauma occurring before death.

    Anterior: Toward the front.

    Bioarchaeology: The study of human remains excavated from archaeological sites.

    Biological ancestry: Refers to the underlying genetic differences between modern populations.

    Biological height: A person’s true anatomical height.

    Biological profile: An individual’s identifying characteristics or biological information, commonly including sex, age, ancestry, and stature.

    Burial assemblage: A set of human remains and associated artifacts associated with a single burial context.

    Burial context: The circumstances surrounding the formation of a burial assemblage, an understanding of which can help inform our understanding and interpretation of the burial.

    Commingled burials: Burial assemblages in which individual skeletons are not separated into discrete burials.

    Compact (cortical) bone: The outer layer of bone, made up of densely arranged osseous (bone) tissue.

    Dental development: The gradual replacement of deciduous (baby) teeth with adult teeth.

    Epiphyseal union (or epiphyseal fusion): The appearance and closure of the epiphyseal plates between the primary centers of growth in a bone and the subsequent centers of growth.

    Epiphyses: Ends of the bone, where growth occurs.

    Forensic anthropology: The analysis of the skeletal remains of recently deceased individuals (typically within the last 50 years) within the context of the law—or, in other words, as part of a criminal investigation.

    Gender: Culturally dependent identity of male or female.

    Osteon: Primary structural unit of compact bone.

    Perimortem trauma: Trauma occurring at or around the time of death.

    Phenotype: A set of outwardly observable characteristics for an individual.

    Positive identification: A scientifically validated method of identifying previously unidentified remains.

    Postmortem trauma: Trauma occurring after death.

    Pubic symphysis: A joint that joins the left and right halves of the pelvis anteriorly.

    Regression methods: Mathematical analysis that examines the relationship between dependent and independent variables.

    Reported stature: Self-reported height.

    Robusticity: Strength relative to size.

    Spongy (trabecular) bone: The inner layer of bone comprised of loosely organized porous bone tissue whose appearance resembles that of a sponge.

    Trauma: An injury to living tissue caused by an extrinsic force or mechanism. (See Lovell 1997, 139.)


    This page titled 15.10: Key Terms was last modified on Fri, 04 Dec 2020 02:21:12 GMT and is shared under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Beth Shook, Katie Nelson, Kelsie Aguilera, and Lara Braff, Eds. (Society for Anthropology in Community Colleges) via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform.