Course Description

Calendar Description: This course covers the field component of forensic anthropology from planning and conducting a search for a missing person presumed dead to excavating a clandestine grave to writing a final report and giving a formal presentation. Skills developed in this course are foundational for those interested in crime scene investigation and/or forensic anthropology. The course runs all-day for three weeks Monday to Friday in a spring/summer term. Warning: Non-human remains in various stages of decomposition are utilized in the field. Note: This course does not qualify students to professionally perform the duties of a forensic anthropologist.

Course Overview: This course will provide the practical training required to search for, locate, document and recover human remains and forensic evidence from an outdoor crime scene. The course combines in-class instruction with outdoor practical training at a ‘scene’ at BU owned property in the Brandon Hills. While non-human remains are used in the field component due to ethical considerations, students are expected to treat the case as a real situation and the remains as though they are human. Students will generate their own search plans based on case information and follow through the entire process to the excavation of a clandestine grave. Documentation (note taking, photography, mapping etc.) and maintaining chain of custody (continuity of evidence) will be emphasized. Students will work collaboratively and closely in groups from the initial stages of search planning, through search implementation, documentation, excavation and final reports and presentations considered appropriate for court. The course will develop students’ critical thinking, analytical, reflective learning, team-work, leadership and communication skills through an intensive experiential learning opportunity.