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My Reflection on the Anthropological Capstone Project
Project Goal
Project Goal
Goals of this project are to analyze and compare dental morphological traits among 19th-century White and Black Americans from Bethel and Freedman’s cemeteries with modern standards and 20th-21st-century cast samples, while evaluating unconfirmed data from Greenlawn Cemetery for potential researcher error or admixture effects.
Project importance
Project importance
By identifying historical dental patterns, the study seeks to uncover trends in dental morphological traits that may be more prevalent in White or Black Americans, enriching the understanding of population-specific variation.
This work bridges historical bioarchaeology with modern forensic anthropology, offering insights into real-world identification challenges, particularly in cases involving skeletonized, burned, or disfigured remains.
Project obstacles
Project obstacles
The main obstacles included limited sample sizes for certain traits at Greenlawn Cemetery. Working with historical skeletal remains also presented preservation challenges that occasionally limited trait visibility. These constraints required careful prioritization of the most statistically robust traits and creative use of available resources.
overcoming obstacles
overcoming obstacles
To address the small sample sizes, I focused analysis on traits with the most complete data and used conservative statistical thresholds. The preservation challenges taught me specialized lighting and magnification techniques for scoring worn dentition. These solutions revealed the importance of: 1) flexible research design, 2) leveraging secondary sources, and 3) developing hands-on osteological skills - all valuable for future bioarchaeological work.
Comparing this relatively incomplete data with the complete data at the Bethel and Freedman's Cemeteries was challenging, but by approaching the data with a greater respect for variance in the Greenlawn sample. Additionally, emphasizing the difference between frequencies rather than the frequencies themselves was instrumental in portions of the analysis.
new skills
new skills
Technical Skills
- ASUDAS Trait Scoring: Mastered standardized dental morphology analysis for forensic applications
- Osteological Conservation: Learned specialized handling and lighting techniques for fragile remains
- Data Normalization: Developed methods to compare incomplete vs. complete dentition samples
Professional Skills
- Critical Thinking: Evaluated competing ancestry estimation methods to optimize analysis
- Technology: Created dynamic Excel templates for frequency calculations
- Teamwork: Collaborated with cemetery archivists to verify demographic data
- Professionalism: Maintained ethical documentation standards for human remains
translating skills
translating skills
Forensic Casework
- ASUDAS proficiency enables immediate contribution to dental identification teams
- Data normalization skills support work with partial/incomplete remains in mass disaster contexts
Cultural Resource Management
- Osteological conservation training prepares for NAGPRA-compliant excavations
Corporate Sector
- Dynamic Excel modeling supports business analytics roles
pursuing my goals
pursuing my goals
This project directly supports my goals by providing hands-on experience with ASUDAS methodology for graduate research in biological anthropology, while the forensic applications of dental trait analysis align perfectly with my career aspirations in forensic anthropology—demonstrating both technical skills and research abilities needed for advancement in either path.
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