Globalization, Transnationalism, and the Analytical Feasibility of Ancestry Estimation

Forensic anthropologists approach the estimation of ancestry in many ways – from traditional cranial and dental metric methods incorporating large reference samples and robust classification statistics. In some ways, the ancestry level falls into a geographically based typological category, although more variation is accounted for at this level than in the three-group model. Prior to a positive identification, biological profile data were generated using standard forensic anthropological methods of analyses, including an estimation of ancestry using craniometric and macromorphoscopic trait trait data. Forensic anthropologists will continue to use a variety of methods and tools to estimate ancestry from skeletal remains. Experience plays a role in forensic anthropological analysis, including the estimation of ancestry. Transnationalism, globalization, and the changing demographic structure of the United States necessitate levels of analysis finer than the three-group model can achieve. Transnationalism is the building of “social fields” between settled immigrants and their country of origin.