Forensic anthropology and forensic pathology : the state of the art

This chapter presents a critical analysis of forensic anthropology. An evaluation of the conception of forensic anthropology across European and American countries is attempted. Furthermore, the authors set out to identify the growing fields in which the anthropologist is involved, alone or together with forensic pathologists. Certification, training requirements, and teaching are rather heterogeneous across the several countries analyzed. Yet, although the forensic anthropologist profile is not easy to achieve, particularly across Europe, the authors were able to identify some efforts—not yet enough, however—toward the uniformization of the most reliable procedures in order to face the increasing and new challenges of forensic anthropology. The authors recognize at least 11 sub-areas in which the forensic anthropologist can be involved, which is a good witness of the exponential growth of this discipline in recent years.