PSU Magazine Spring 1988

After the center was discontinued in 1981 (it was reinstituted this fall) Bennett stayed to teach physical anthropology, general archeology and computer applications. She is a whiz at programming computers to handle huge amounts of data, a dire necessity for the field work she has done in J or– dan, Jamaica, Tunisia, New Mexico and Mexico. It is this working with "old dry bones and cracked pots," in Bennett's words, that has given her years of experience and familiarity needed for her current forensic work. Unfortunately, not all Bennett's work is done with old dry bones where signs of violence are long erased or at The size and angle ofa joint adds another piece to the puzzle ofidentity - an identity that could gi:ve new meaning to the anonymous skulls at right. least easily digested. Bennett's partici– pation on the forensic team that autopsied the Molalla bodies is a case in point. Those remains were in var– ious stages of decomposition from totally skeletalized to only a few weeks old. The smell and brutality of that case won't be soon forgotten. With Bennett's help a good descrip– tion of the seven murder victims was developed. Callers, recognizing char– acteristics from newspaper and televi– sion stories, and thousands of hours matching dental records, made it pos– sible for six of the seven victims to be identified. P utting the pieces together and working with law enforcement agencies is usually a pleasure for Bennett, but an unpaid one. "They're also public agencies low on funds," says Bennett. "I can sometimes get gas money if the work takes me to a remote location." Given a set of bones or partial remains, much of Bennett's work looks deceptively simple because it is devoid of sophisticated machines. First, she will determine if the remains are female or male. This is most easily done with the pelvis. A woman has a broader, rounder pelvis; where a man's is taller and more narrow. Hip sockets in a male are usually larger, and a variety of other distinctive traits mark either the male or female bones. PSU MAGAZINE PAGES Most textbooks will say sex can only be determined from the pelvis, but Bennett has been right too many times with just a skull as evidence to support this notion. The shape of an eye socket, flair of the jaw and muscle at– tachment points at the base of the skull along with many other indicators can reliably determine sex, according to Bennett. The tally sheet of characteristics is long, and all assessments must be tempered with evidence of geographi– cal or racial background. Skeletal pro– portions and facial features help determine this. Estimating age may be the most sophisticated process, often requiring x-rays to observe the stage of bone and tooth development. In a unique case, Bennett recently organized a team to verify the age of Narin Aing, the Cambodian youth charged with the December murders of his three cousins in Southeast Port– land. His age had been in dispute because he lacks a birth certificate. Knowing Aing's racial heritage, the team viewed x-rays of the growth plates in his hands, arms and legs. The growth and ossification (harden– ing process) in growing bones takes place in a predictable sequence observable on the x-ray. They also viewed the condition of his teeth, both those visible and those not fully deve– loped. Aing claims to be 17-years-old. The team's independent findings could not conclusively dispute this. As a minor Aing can not be given the death sentence, according to Oregon law. When dealing with the more usual physical remains, once sex and race is determined the long arm and leg bones are measured with an osteomet– ric board, then checked against tables estimating average height on the basis of statistical studies. "We are surpris– ingly accurate," says Bennett. When her forensic description leads to a pos– itive dental identification, the accuracy of Bennett's tentative analysis is immediately apparent, a luxury unob– tainable when studying ancient bones. Part of Bennett's job is to determine how long ago death occurred. This takes careful analysis of the area in which the remains were found. For this reason Bennett teaches an occa-