A Forensic Anthropologist is an anthropologist who can identify and classify human bones. From a bone fragment, he/she can tell you if it is of human origin and where the bone came from. From most complete bones an anthropologist can tell you if it came from the right or the left side of the body; how tall that person was; and some times the person's race and the cause of death. From a complete skeleton, an anthropologist can give you the aforementioned plus the sex, health, and information such as whether the person was overweight or had joint problems.

An Forensic Anthropologist is different from a Medical Examiner in that the M.E studies the body of a victim and the tissues. The Forensic Anthropologist examines only the bones and usually has invested a similar amount of study focusing on human bones.