الفهرس 
ANTHROPOLOGY & ANTHROPOMETRYOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Article 6 of the Declaration of Human Rights of the United Nations states : “ Persons are born with an identity and deserve the right to die with an identity ” ( Coles , 2018 ) .
Identification is the establishment of the individuality of a living or dead person . It is the mainstay of any forensic investigation , whether it is of the suspect from the physical evidence at the crime scene or of the victim . Different types of identification are present as criminal , civil , personal and legal identification ( Griffiths , 2018 ) .
The need to identify the dead is obvious for social and medico-legal purposes . There are numerous medico-legal reasons why it is important to be able to establish the identity of both living and dead individuals . The living may not be able to identify themselves for a variety of reasons : coma , amnesia , infancy or mental defect . Alternatively , an individual may simply choose to conceal his true identity by providing false information . Even if the identity of the individual is known , other personal details , for instance their exact age , may need to be confirmed for the purposes of immigration or inheritance ( Baliso , 2019 ) .
On the other hand , the identity of a corpse is of paramount importance in the investigation of any death and forms the first part of a coroner’s inquisition . The need for personal identification arises in natural mass disasters like earth quakes , tsunamis , landslides , floods etc. , and in man-made disasters such as terrorist attacks , bomb blasts , mass murders , and in cases when the body is highly decomposed or dismembered to deliberately conceal the identity of the individual ( Wahdan and Khalifa , 2019 ) .
One of the classic problems of forensic pathology , the identification of a whole or partial skeleton , involves techniques and expertise that span a number of disciplines from anatomy to radiology from dentistry to archaeology ( Byers , 2016 ) .
Identification of human remains is an imperative element of any medicolegal investigation , and a challenging task for forensic experts and physical anthropologists worldwide ( Khan et al., 2017 ) .
Medicolegal circumstances of identification :-
1- In living persons : Can be done for many purposes ( Koppel et al., 2018 ) .
a- Medical purposes : as in comatozed , amnesic and mentally confused persons .
b- Criminal purposes : as in Sexual offenses , kidnapping and determination of criminal responsibility .
c- Civil purposes : as in problems of inheritance , marriage , immigration , disputed paternity and on call for military services ( Olkhovsky et al, 2019 ) .
d- Legal and financial responsibilities and rights : identity fraud ( the use of a misappropriated identity , stolen or forged identity documents such as a passport , driving license or in criminal activity) is considered to be a fast-growing type of fraud enabling access to bank accounts , credit cards and fraudulent legal and insurance cover . The increase in such fraudulent activities , an indisputable proof of identity is needed ( Stammet al, 2017 ) .
2- In dead persons : (Crișan et al, 2019 ) .
a- Establishment of the fact of death in respect of that individual , for official , statistical and legal purposes .
b- Recording the identity for administrative and ceremonial purposes in respect of burial or cremation .
c- Discharging of legal claims and obligations in relation to property , estate and debts .
d- Proving claims for life insurance contracts , survivor’s pensions and other financial matters .
e- Providing a corpus delicti in cases of homicide for police investigations .
f- Accomplishment of an ethical as well as humanitarian need to know which individual has died , especially for the information of surviving relatives . In certain cases , several years may elapse before a person can be certified as legally deceased. Such an interval creates undue emotional and financial hardships for the next of kin in any given instance . Numerous techniques are established for individual identification from bones and / or other body parts which forms an essential component of forensic anthropology ( Byers , 2016 ) .
In forensic anthropological practice , identification is performed according to certain degrees of certainty :-
• Impossible : identity can’t be established due to absolute contradiction between ante-mortem and post-mortem evidence .
• Undetermined : if only share some similarities are established , so that a definite conclusion cannot be reached , and if there appears to be a strong probability of a match , without unique feature to set that individual apart .
• Possible : if there is no major incompatibility that would exclude individual from consideration .
• Positive identification : can only be achieved if there are absolutely no contradictions or doubt , and can only be reached based on the presence of unique factors of individualization ( Lusiardo et al., 2020 ) .
Identification of the living is a primarily a matter for police investigations . It depends on personal impression e.g. recognition by sight or by hearing . Living can also be identified by hand writing , but it always calls for expert opinion . It is a complex and highly skilled procedure . Fingerprints , palm prints and sole or toe prints are unique as a mean for identification . The possibility of mistakes with this method is infinitely remote ( Bose , 2017 ) .
The determination of race , sex , age and stature in the living or dead is an imperative element of any medico-legal investigation . Sexing of the remains is a corner stone in forensic medicine as it is primarily narrowing down the pool of possible victim matches ( Chandran et al., 2016 ) . Identification of human remains is an imperative element of any medicolegal investigation and a challenging task for forensic experts and physical anthropologists worldwide ( Lusiardo et al., 2020 ) .
The detailed examination of the dead for evidence of identity is a specialized task for the forensic pathologist , forensic odontologist , anthropologist and other experts , but every doctor should have some idea of the features that can be used to establish the identity of a person , dead or alive ( Lawrence et al., 2016 ) .
Generally speaking , bone morphology may be useful morphological methods ( forensic anthropology and odontology techniques) , which simply compare shape , size and / or peculiar anomaly of bone and teeth are valid methods , they are quicker and cheaper method than genetics ( Pierce et al., 2017 ) .
General Methods of Identification :-
• Morphological characteristics :-
Identity cannot be established by the simple measurement of a set of parameters of an individual or a body . It can only be established by matching the parameters that can be measured or seen on an individual with the same parameters that were previously known to apply to or to be present on a named individual . The finding of a specific feature or a combination of specific features that is known to be possessed by that individual alone will add considerable weight to the conclusions ( Kumar et al., 2019 ) .
In both the living and dead , the height , weight and general physique need to be recorded and compared . Hair color and length , or dying , the presence of a beard or moustache , the amount and distribution of other body hair , including sites that are commonly shaved , all need to be established . Skin pigmentation , racial and ethnic facial appearances and eye color are also useful ( Maijanen and Jeong , 2018 ) .
All clothing , jewellery and other ornaments on the person must be recorded and photographed as they may provide useful information about the sex , race and even occupation and social status of the body , even if they are not sufficient for identification . Tattoos , surgical scars , old injuries , congenital deformities , striae from childbirth , scars or markings , circumcision , moles , warts and other skin marks etc. must be carefully recorded and , if unusual , photographed because a relative , friend or doctor may be able to confirm an identity from these features . In a living person or an intact body , the facial appearance is all important , both from racial aspects and from individual appearance ( Priyadarshini and Sahoo , 2019 ) .
• Finger-prints :-
Revealing fingerprints is mainly a matter for the police , but the forensic doctor may be asked to assist in obtaining them . The recovery of the fingerprints from decomposing and damaged bodies requires the use of specialized techniques which are the province of the fingerprint expert . Prints may often be obtained from desquamated skin or from the underlying epidermis after shedding of the stratum corneum following prolonged submersion . The pattern of the fingerprint comprises arches , loops , whorls or combinations of those three patterns , but as important as these patterns is the position of minute defects on the ridges ( Abraham , 2017 ) .