Mrs. Jessica Dillon’s first period Forensic Science class took a field trip Friday, November 6to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.

During the field trip, the class solved two forensic cases and compared their results to those of the museum’s anthropologist team.

In the first case, students handled real bones that were found in Yorktown, Virginia. Using what they have learned in class, they were able to identify that the mandible belonged to a 25-29 year-old. The part of the pelvic bone that was found belonged to a female, and a measurement of the femur led the group to estimate that the body of the woman was about 5′ 6″. They didn’t just figure about the gender or age or even height. With iron nails from the rotted casket, the class properly identified that the woman was from the Colonial time period.

The second case was even more interesting.

It had the yuck factor that everyone was excited for.

They were solving the grizzly bear case. They got to again touch real life bones to identify who the deceased was.

Using the pelvic bones and mandible that were found in the woods, students determined that the remains were of a female about 60 years old.

Junior Lexi Watson said, “Touching the skull was my favorite part. The whole second lab was my favorite part.”

Other than touching a dead woman’s skull what made this memorable was the mystery leg that was found near where the police found the woman’s body scattered all over the woods.

Once the class had looked through a lot of photos of woodland animal’s legs, they came to the conclusion that the leg with skin and vessels still on it had to be the bear.

Junior Kendall Harshman said, “I have learned that I won’t be hiking in the woods because you can trip and fall and get eaten by a bear.”

The field trip allowed students to see what it is like to be a practicing anthropologist.