Anthropology 2235A/B Lecture Notes - Blunt Trauma
2 Jul 2012
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Lecture 38 trauma analysis & types of trauma. Trauma analysis: trauma analysis concerns injuries inflicted to bone because of: Blunt force trauma: low velocity impact over large area. Sharp force trauma: forces directed along very narrow surface. Essentially blunt force trauma delivered by a sharp object: discontinuities are produced by physical interruption of the skeletal tissue by a weapon, often combines with blunt force trauma producing fractures, best researched area. Lethal knife wounds are second only to gunshot wounds as a cause of homicidal deaths. Involve substantially higher velocities distributed over smaller areas: during medico-legal investigations of homicides and suicides forensic anthropologists frequently encounter gunshot wound injuries. Identification of the signature pattern requires different kind of training unless the anthropologists is working on historic war samples. Training in trauma analysis: need to differentiate traumas. Accidental, occupational, malintent, intentional, animal knowing: anthropologists need extra training in ballistics unless they have dealt with recent war dead, valuable in mass killings.
