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Pinney
Robin Pinney
Writing 2 - WP2
7 December 2015
Archeology VS. Criminal Justice
Human remains on their own can be classified as forensics, biology, science,
criminology but the two separate trains of thought, Archeology, a sub header of
Forensic Anthropology, and Criminal Justice on their own, can be vessels used to study
human remains. Archeology is the study of the stuff we leave behind, such as lithic
tools, a simple hut dwelling, a skeleton covered with gold jewelry or a pyramid that
majestically rises from a desert floor (Jasun). Within the study of Criminal Justice,
coroners study human bodies to determining who the deceased was and how, when and
where they came by their death (Coroner). These two fields prove that though different
educations and training are required for each occupation, ultimately, the same goal can e
reached, with different perspectives.
Students and scholars use academic articles and texts all over the world in order to
read about their specific fields of work and can continuously educate themselves on new
findings. This is particularly important with coroners across nations who need to discover
new ways on how to perform autopsies and make solving murders and deaths much
easier and more elaborative. This is equally said for archeologists who study skeletons
and their deaths in order to connect cultural practices and peoples all over the world.
Coroners help catch murderers and make the world a safer place; archeologists study
people and their cultures and deaths in order to make the world smaller both a civic
duty to those who do not have the passion for such studies. Though both Archeology and

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Criminal Justice use human remains to conduct their work, the purposes of the articles,
structures, presentations, and tones are what separate the two fields within their
connection and make their academic articles separate entities.
In the article, Forensic Pathology-The Last Bastion of Pathology, found in the
American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology, the coroner goes through the
processes of identification of human bodies near the Green River in King County,
Washington. He does not only go through his processes, but also particularly mentions
the experience is presented in order to acquaint other agencies with techniques of
outdoor scene processing that have evolved during the recovery of remains from Green
River and other skeletal cases. This comment proves to make this article a very
academically oriented one because the author goes on to mention more advice to his
peers, such as It is important to designate an official route to and from the scene and
At this time, other experts should be considered. Their presence at the scene or
consultation can be crucial, (Haglund). This proves that these experts in the field of
criminal justice medicine are giving advice, making respective arguments about the best
possible way to go about solving a death or murder, and gaining credibility with writing
about their own ventures with the Green River murders.
Going through the purpose of the Archeology article, Cranial Deformations in an
Iron Age Population from Mnsingen-Rain, Switzerland, it is evident that archeologists
write their academic articles differently than coroners do. In the International Journal of
Osteoarcheology it is deliberately stated that the aim of this paper is an examination of
cranial fluctuating asymmetry and deformations in the prehistoric population of
Munsingen-Rain which entails that the article is only about the findings, and not about

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giving off methods and practices so other anthropologists and archeologists can work
with the same technology, as the last article was about. This article also goes more in
depth about the set of remains life, versus their death, as in Persons that are affected by
torticollis hold their heads tilted to one side because the undamaged or healthy muscle
pulls unopposed in that direction. Over the years this unilateral pull causes asymmetries
of the skull at the mastoid processes and the occipital as well as in the region of the
forehead, (Kutterer). This kind of information proves the exact difference between
Archeology and Criminal Justice in that the first is more concerned with life and the latter
is more concerned with death. Instead of giving advice and teaching peers how to solve
murders, archeology articles go through the studies of people and share those stories in
order to understand the past, but not necessarily to better the future.
When looking at the structure of the Criminal Justice related article, it is divided
into subheadings, which are titled after each individual step taken on how a coroner
should go about performing an autopsy on a body. It is very user friendly and helpful to
those looking to find a step-by-step process on this specific event, which supports the
claim that criminal justice medicinal academic articles are used to teach others. The
archeology article is structured in a more lengthy way, it has few subtitles, ex:
Introduction, Materials and Methods, and Discussion, (Kutterer) and is built in a
presentation basis than a step-by-step basis. This article isnt written to teach new
methods, but to teach more about the findings, giving a more story like feel to it. This
article in particular served the purpose as to why these people had cranial deformations
and in turn, figure out what type of lives they led because of this disability.
A characteristic that differs from these two topics, though they share the same

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genre, is the ways they are presented. Photographs are a helpful way for people studying
these fields to visualize what they are reading about, especially when the material is
based off of visual justifications. It is impossible to solve a murder or find the history of a
culture without looking at the evidence present, but when it comes to the materials at
hand, the evidence can become very gruesome. The type of pictures presented in each
article are different from each other, for this very reason. Archeology works with the
skeletons left behind, and most people are comfortable with looking at a skeleton, or
pictures of skeletons, but become nauseous when looking at decaying flesh.
When directly comparing the two pictures presented from both articles, there is a
very apparent reason behind the differences. In the Cranial Deformations article, there
are photographs of the skulls being studied with rulers aligned to them to show the
significant differences in facial structures - which relay the information provided in the
writing. In the Forensic Pathology-The Last Bastion of Pathology article, there are
images of the surrounding areas where the bodies were found, which are audience
friendly. However, these images differ form the images in the Archeology article because
those skull pictures are presented in a professional, clean light. They have backdrops and
are objective. The more aggressive photographs in the Green River Murder article are of
human remains in the place they were found, covered in dirt, in unnatural positions and in
the state of violence.
The information shown above is exactly what makes academic articles more
precise than other outlets news, TV, movies, even some books, are open to the general
public, and most people, even children, can stumble across these genres. If there is a
skeleton in a twisted position on TV, a child could come across it and be scarred for life,

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whereas an academic journal or article are not as sensitive and arent that likely to be
stumbled across and can afford to show images of violence and gruesome activities.
Another factor that these articles have in common is that their tones prove that
they expect the readers to have some type of knowledge about the systems going on
because of the jargon they use. Complicated words and terms set the tone for being very
professional and demand that the reader have prior knowledge. Terms such as skulls
which are asymmetric due to premature suture closure are trapezoidal, (Kutterer) and
Fluid leaked during decompositions may stain the substrate upon which the body rests,
render the soil acidic, or limit vegetation growth (Haglund) prove this theme of making
academic articles for the educated. While they may render the usage of teaching new
methods, they teach methods to people who already know previous practices.
When going over academic articles, it can be assumed they are structured the
same way but this is proven false when looking at the same topic, in different genres.
This is proven with the fields of Archeology and Criminal Justice. They differ their
studies with the first going on in a story like, lengthy fashion, giving off details about the
remains found and drawing conclusions and linking them to historical knowledge. This
differs from the latter in that the article presented was written to help other coroners
going through similar situations use new technology and methods to do their work in a
more efficient pace this is proven with the facts in a list, chronological order, which is
user friendly and can be accessed very quickly through skimming. Both fields use human
remains to better mankind today, but their processes and articles they put forth prove that
their motives vary greatly.

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Works Cited
"Coroner." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 1 Dec. 2015. Web. 07
Dec. 2015.
Haglund, William D. "Forensic Pathology-The Last Bastion of Pathology." The American
Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology 11.1 (1990): 197. Web.
Jarus, By Owen. "What Is Archaeology?" LiveScience. TechMedia
Network, 28 Mar. 2014. Web. 07 Dec. 2015.
Kutterer, A., and K. W. Alt. "Cranial Deformations in an Iron Age Population from
Mnsingen-Rain, Switzerland." International Journal of Osteoarchaeology Int. J.
Osteoarchaeol. 18. (2008): 392-406. Web.