RE: Discussion 1

QUESTION 1
You are part of a forensic team sent to Florida, where the local authorities found the skeletal remains of an individual without any form of identification on them, so your task is to determine their ancestry using only skeletal indicators. Your results indicate this individual could be of Asian ancestry, but you also observed some traits that could indicate European ancestry.

A few days later, this individual’s wallet is found in a nearby field containing a driver’s license from Peru.

Based on this information:

1) Could you use the skeletal indicators to determine ancestry for US populations for Peruvian populations to provide an accurate ancestry determination? Explain why or why not.

2) What would you do differently to provide a more accurate ancestry determination? (200 words minimum; no sources required)

Question 2
You are conducting a survey of human variation at the Tulsa International Airport during peak travel. While running your survey, you interview a group of 30 college students on a field trip. You find out that most of the students are both carriers of the sickle-cell trait and lactose intolerant.

How is this possible?

To help you explain how this is possible, we added a couple of maps showing the distribution of the lactose intolerance trait (blue) and the sickle-cell trait (red). Your answer must consider the genetics of these two traits (200 words minimum; no sources required)

Question 3
Imagine working with a team of bioarchaeologists who have just excavated a recently discovered medieval cemetery in Italy. The cemetery has 215 graves that include skeletal remains of all sexes and different ages.

Explain how would you answer there following research questions:

1) Was there a sexual division of labor?

2) What types of labor can we deduce from these remains?

3) What are the (estimated) ages of these individuals?(200 words minimum; no sources required)