ISSN: 0022-1198
CODEN: JFSCA
Published Online: 1 January 2002
Page Count: 7

Variation in Midfacial Tissue Thickness of African-American Children
Williamson, MA
Assistant professor, Georgia Southern University, GA

Nawrocki, SP
Associate professor of Biology and Archeology and Forensics Laboratory Director, University of Indianapolis, IN

Rathbun, TA
Distinguished professor emeritus, University of South Carolina, SC

(Received 14 November 2000; accepted 7 May 2001)

Abstract

Forensic anthropologists use facial reconstruction to develop a likeness of an unknown individual in order to generate public interest that may lead to a positive identification. Tissue thicknesses of the face from living persons or cadavers are an essential part of the reconstruction method. The purpose of this study is to add to the growing database of tissue thicknesses along the facial midline of African-American children and to begin to examine the possibility of geographic differences between children of the same ancestral group. Results indicate that significant differences do not exist between males and females or between African-American females from the Midwest and Southeast U.S. Only age was determined to have a significant effect on mean tissue thickness variation, in our sample, with the majority of change occurring in the facial region.

Keywords:
forensic science, forensic anthropology, facial reconstruction

Paper ID: JFS15201J
DOI: 10.1520/JFS15201J
ASTM International is a member of CrossRef.