What can forensic anthropology determine from a skeleton?

• A. Age, sex, ancestry, stature, and signs of trauma or disease
• B. Eye color
• C. Blood type
• D. Hair color

Answer: (A)

Forensic anthropology builds a biological profile from the skeleton, focusing on what the bones can reveal about a person’s life and death. From a skeleton, you can estimate age at death, determine likely sex, infer ancestral background, calculate approximate stature, and identify signs of trauma or disease that affected the person. Age-at-death comes from dental development and wear, as well as growth and aging markers in the bones. Sex is assessed mainly from pelvic features, which are highly informative, with skull characteristics providing supporting evidence. Ancestry is read from cranial and dental traits that vary between populations, though it’s probabilistic and trained on reference data. Stature is estimated using measurements of long bones and regression equations. Signs of trauma or disease are visible as injuries, healing patterns, or degenerative changes in bone fibers and joints.

Eye color, hair color, and blood type aren’t determined from the skeleton itself. These traits are associated with soft tissues or genetic information not preserved in bone, so they aren’t reliably inferred from skeletal remains through standard forensic anthropology.