In her book Grave Secrets, Kathy Reichs tackles various forensic tasks some of them exceptionally others not as well. In the novel, the fictitious Dr. Brennan uses various techniques to accomplish the forensic work of things such as the determination of age, sex, stature, and recovery. She also presents techniques in the determination of ancestry, cause of death, diseases, injuries and individual anomalies. Although, some of her techniques are done exceptionally others leave something to be desired. Dr. Brennan at times takes shortcuts and her removal and or recovery of skeletal material influences the analysis of the remains. In Chapter 1, Dr. Brennan is tasked with investigating a mass disaster at the village of Chupan Ya in Guatemala …show more content…
Brennan analyzes photographs of skeletal remains and makes forensic conclusions (Reichs, 2002). After evaluating things such as the sub-pubic angle and the skull, Dr. Brennan reaches the conclusion that it is more than likely that the remains belong to a young female with a Mongoloid ancestry (Reichs, 2002). I agree with Dr. Brennan’s forensic opinion. Generally, the sub-pubic angle for males is V-shaped and less than 90 degrees (Byers, 2011). This information would support Dr. Brennan’s claim that the victim is female since the sub-pubic angle was described as obtuse. Additionally, She identifies rounded orbits on the skull that alone output an accuracy rating of 80 to 90% (Byers, 2011). Factoring in both the sub-pubic and rounded orbits, I agree with Dr. Brennan that it is verly likely the victim was female. Referring to the same skeleton, Dr. Brennan also makes a claim on the age of the victim. Dr. Brennan claims that the victim is probably in her late teens (Reichs, 2002). I also agree with this claim provided by Dr. Brennan. In the photographs being analyzed she notices an epiphyseal line and the growth cap fusing to the end of the shaft (Reichs, 2002). Epiphyses are one of the primary methods of establishing the age of a sub-adult (Byers,