Forensic anthropology has been used for this purpose in the study of the Anasazi of the Southwestern United States. Another feature that can be examined with forensic anthropology is the health and diet of a culture. There are certain diseases that cause physical changes in the skeletal structure of humans. If signs of these diseases are found the general health of the society can be found. Also, the average age at death can be used to infer societal health. Some of the diseases are caused by a lack in nutrition, such as iron deficiency anemia, thus researchers are able to determine if the culture was receiving the proper nutrition in their diet. Another test for diet involves the use of atomic isotopes in the skeleton. This test is not a definitive answer as to what was eaten but it is useful in conjunction with other studies. Thus, forensic anthropology/archaeology is not only useful in criminal investigations, but also in archaeological studies. (France, PG 196). .
According to Mays, the most interesting part of forensic anthropology is the actual techniques and methods of estimating age, determining gender and other factors of the environments one has lived in. Although bones cannot determine the actual age, the approximate age of the individual can be. For age determination, different parts of the skeleton are more useful at different age ranges. The different age ranges include prenatal, neonate, infants and young children, late childhood, adolescence, young adult, and older adult. The age of prenatal, those that are not yet born, can be determined by looking at bone size. This is because outside factors such as malnutrition on the mother's part is not going to affect the fetus' growth as much. During periods of low food intake the mother's body will give nutrients to the fetus, shorting the mother of nutrients. Neonates, babies who have not gotten their teeth yet, are very difficult to accurately determine the age of because of individual variation of development.
