像《火博体育》(CSI)那样的课程，但很现实

The floor of Glotzbach 中庭 in the Billie Tisch Center for Integrated Sciences was cordoned off with yellow police tape – replica skeletal 仍然是, pieces of clothing, and other “evidence” scattered across four quadrants of a grid. 学生们看着 with curiosity, awaiting instructions from Assistant Professor of Anthropology Kathryn Baustian.

In groups of five, the students were to map their respective scenes on graph paper, 记下每件物品在其所在方格中的确切位置. 然后他们把证据装进了袋子， 给每块骨头贴上标签，创建一个“骨骼清单”.”

The mock crime scene in Baustian’s 法医人类学:骨头、尸体和创伤 课程模拟真实的法医经验.

“We just scratch the surface of how to analyze a crime scene and collect evidence, but students get a taste of it, and they see that it’s not like TV,” said Baustian. “They see how much effort goes into the process of collecting the 仍然是 and associated evidence, and they learn how to document everything, which is really important.”

The class is an introductory course for forensic anthropology studies at Skidmore. Through readings, lecture and discussion activities, group research projects, and a number of lab activities, students learn about the roles and responsibilities of forensic anthropologists, how to analyze and measure skeletal 仍然是 - including for age, biological sex, stature, ancestry, pathologies, and trauma – as well as the processes and methods that go into creating a biological profile that could be used in solving a missing persons case or any crime involving decomposed or skeletonized 仍然是.

It’s just one of many examples across campus of Skidmore’s 创造性的课程 and ways in which Skidmore’s faculty in every major offer exciting learning experiences.

“This course is a really interesting way to combine my interest in archaeology and anatomy within the anthropology major,” said Francis Davies ’26. “这非常吸引人 和动手.”

Baustian also brought a racial justice lens to the course this past spring, inspired 火博体育的 种族正义教学挑战赛. 
 
The class read the 2022 book “We Carry Their Bones: The Search for Justice at the 《火博体育官网》作者:Erin H. 法医人类学家Kimmerle说 in a multi-year study and project that excavated 仍然是 of boys who died while at 位于佛罗里达州狭长地带的多兹尔男子学校.

“The school was in operation for just over 100 years and closed in 2011, but there was a long history of abuse and ill treatment of many of the boys who were at the reform school as part of the judicial system,” Baustian said. “因为他们经常这样 from poor backgrounds, their families couldn’t always pay to have the bodies shipped 回家. Other times, it seems like there was some abuse and illicit behaviors that the school wanted to cover up, so they wouldn’t clearly document where the bodies 被埋.”

Students discuss and analyze the reading, which recounts how the boys were treated and how their 仍然是 were located, excavated, and ultimately identified. 一些 their families were able to finally learn the truth and have their loved ones’ bodies 返回.

“It’s a very sad story, but it brings into the course elements of history, the Deep South, the economic situation, Jim Crow era segregation, and racial prejudice and 暴力，”鲍斯安说. “So many different topics come together, all under the umbrella 法医人类学.”

In that way, the research-intensive course – which fulfills both social science and 人文探究要求——脱颖而出.

“You can learn so much about people from long ago when you dig into archives and paperwork,” 戴维斯说. “I like cultural anthropology because I like talking to people and I 热爱口述历史. I think they’re one of the most personal and compelling pictures 对过去的回忆.”