Forensic Anthropology

This research demonstrates the value of laser scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM) as a research tool in osteological studies, and diagenetic studies in particular.  LSCM combines properties of light and scanning electron microscopy by using laser light to excite fluorophores throughout the z-axis, developing a 3-D image.  Using differential staining and selecting for specific wavelengths of light, one can image targeted materials.  This research is divided into two parts: visualizing bone structures such as proteins and their decompositional products, and visualizing diagenesis.  Part one of this study utilized pig bones as a means of testing the overall ability of LSCM to fluoresce bone.  Twenty-three samples were imaged, including 13 samples from a decompositional study conducted 5 years previous, and 10 “fresh” samples collected from a commercial butcher.  This part of the study determined protein and organic components of the bone could be fluoresced and diagenetic alteration could be imaged.  The second part of the study used human samples as a means of imaging and mapping diagenetic alterations.  The second part of the study used 13 samples, including 4 clinical, 7 ancient, and 2 modern controls.  The pig study used Basic Fuchsin and SlowFade Gold stains, while the human study used Toluidine Blue.  Images were also taken with unstained elements.  The results of the non-human study found that a fresh bone fluoresced differently than that of a five-year subset while, the results of the human study confirmed these findings and determined that bone diagenesis can be mapped using LSCM.

Medical expertise is crucial in death investigations. It begins with body examination and evidence collection at the scene and proceeds through history, physical examination, laboratory tests, and diagnosis – in short, the broad ingredients of a doctor’s treatment of a living patient. The key goal is to provide objective evidence of cause, timing, and manner of death for adjudication by the criminal justice system. Death investigation has been performed for centuries in all societies, although not always by medical professionals (Committee, 2003). The association of law and medicine dates back to the Egyptian culture as early as 3000 B.C. The English coroner system was mentioned in documentations around the 12th century B.C. (Spitz, 2006).
Although the primary goal of a death investigation is to establish the cause and manner of death, the role of the death investigation extends much further than simply answering these two questions. A common question asked is, “Why does it matter? The person is dead.” While it is true that the dead cannot benefit, the value in death investigation is to benefit the living and future generations. In a culture that values life, explaining the death in a public forum (the meaning of “forensic”) is crucial for many reasons. And this interest goes beyond simple curiosity (Wagner, 2009).
In homicide, suspected homicide, and other suspicious or obscure cases, the forensic medicine expert should visit the scene of the death before the body is removed. Local practice varies but any doctor claiming to be a forensic medicine expert should always make himself available to accompany the police to the locus of the death. This duty is often formalized and made part of a contract of service for those forensic medicine experts who are either full-time or substantially involved in assisting the police, in England and Wales, the 'Home Office Pathologists' are permanently on call for such visits and in many other jurisdictions, such as the medical examiner systems in the USA, and the European State and University Institutes of Forensic Medicine, there is usually a prearranged duty roster for attendance at scenes of death (Saukko & Knight, 2004). In many cases, the scene investigation is more important than the autopsy. A thorough and complete investigation commonly leads to the proper diagnosis of the cause and manner of death prior to an autopsy (Avis, 1993; Dix & Ernst, 1999).
Why go to the scene? The purpose of having the forensic medicine expert attend the death scene is severalfold. By viewing the body in the context of its surroundings, the forensic medicine expert is better able to interpret certain findings at the autopsy such as a patterned imprint across the neck from collapsing onto an open vegetable drawer in a refrigerator. The forensic medicine expert is also able to advise the investigative agency about the nature of the death, whether to confirm a homicide by a specific means, evaluate the circumstances to be consistent with an apparent natural death, or interpret the blood loss from a deceased person as being more likely due to natural disease than to injury. This preliminary information helps the investigative agency to define its perimeter, structure its approach, organize its manpower, secure potentially important evidence, and streamline its efforts.
Nonattendance at death scenes has been regarded as one of the classical mistakes in forensic pathology. Hospital pathologists performing forensic autopsies who are not trained to, or able to, attend death scenes should be provided with information on how, when, and where the body was found, by whom, and under what circumstances. In some deaths, the immediate environment does not contribute to death, such as in cases of metastatic breast carcinoma. In other cases, the environment plays a role although it does not cause the death; for example, consider a case in which a person with marked coronary atherosclerosis collapses with a dysrhythmia while shoveling snow. On the other hand, the scene description and scene photographs are critical in documenting that the physical circumstances and body posture are indicative of death due to positional asphyxia because the autopsy in these cases may yield very few findings. The most meticulous autopsy in all academia will provide only a speculative cause and manner of death in a 30-year-old man with a negative history, negative toxicology, and autopsy findings of visceral congestion.
Yet at the scene, a screwdriver is next to an uncovered electrical outlet on a rain-soaked patio at the decedent's house, which is undergoing renovation. The cause and manner of death are provided by the scene (Lew & Matshes, 2005).
The examination of a death scene and subsequent collection of potential evidential material requires special skill, knowledge, aptitude, and attitude. The manner in which a death scene investigation is conducted may be a critical factor in determining the success of an investigation. The thorough examination of a death scene requires a disciplined and systematic approach to recording the various observations made and collection of potential evidential material. This must be combined with the analysis of various observations and the interrelationship of potential evidentiary material (Horswell, 2005a).
If resources are sufficient and the circumstances of death so dictate, it is ideal for a forensic medicine expert to perform a scene investigation. This is particularly relevant if the body remains at the scene of death, and has not been transported to the hospital during attempts at resuscitation; however, a scene investigation can be vitally important and provide valuable information even if the body has been transported to the hospital. If a body is pronounced dead at the scene (as opposed to after transport to the hospital), many death investigation systems require a scene investigation. Others have various protocols as to which case types absolutely require a scene investigation (whether or not the body is present at the scene). Case types that should always have a scene investigation include all confirmed or suspected homicides, suicides, accidents, child deaths, traffic-related deaths, in-custody deaths, and workplace-related deaths (Prahlow, 2010).
Death scene investigation may include a combination of the following types of incidents and examinations:
• Accidental deaths, which include a multitude of circumstances, including misadventure
• Suicidal deaths, which include a multitude of circumstances
• Homicidal deaths, which include a multitude of circumstances
• Sudden deaths, with or without suspicious circumstances
• Difficult victim identification, which includes mummification and putrefaction
• Disaster victim identification dealing with multiple casualties (Horswell, 2005a)
This chapter will focus on the steps of death scene investigation and some real cases will be analyzed.

On the 4th of July in 2005, a couple was walking along an access
road on Randall’s Island in New York City. The man observed a bone near the side of the road and playfully tossed it at his girl- friend. They then became concerned that the bone might actu- ally be human and called the police. Detectives from the New York City Police Department and investigators from the Office of Chief Medical Examiner responded to the scene and noticed other bones scattered in the area that they believed to be human. At this point, the location was treated as a crime scene and a call went out for anthropological assistance. It became of critical importance to determine first, if the bones were indeed human, and second, if they were of medicolegal significance, that is, if they might be part of a recent crime or missing person case.

azı durumlarda insan ve hayvan kemikleri birbirine kolaylıkla karıştırılabil-mektedir, yapılacak bu hatayı önlemek için osteoloji bilgisine sahip kişilerin karar vermesi gerekmektedir. Ülkemizde Antropoloji bölümlerinde hem insan hem de hayvan osteolojisi dersleri verilmektedir. Hayvan osteolojisi üzerine çalışma yapan birçok araştırmacı zooarkeolog/arkeozoolog olarak geçmiş dönem in-sanlarına ilişkin birçok bilgiye hayvan kemiklerini çalışarak ulaşabilmektedir. Diğer bir deyişle Zooarkeoloji, hayvan kemik kalıntılarını inceleyen ve insanın çevrele-riyle ilişki kurmasına yardımcı olan bir bilim dalıdır. 1 Bu kapsamda özellikle hay-van kemiklerinin insan kemikleriyle karşılaştırılması durumunda bu kişilere danışılması gerekmektedir. Antropologların alan çalışmalarında yanıtlamaları gereken birçok soru mev-cuttur, bunlardan ilki arazide bulunan kemiklerin insana ait olup olmadığıdır. Bu durumda insan kemiklerini hayvanlardan ayırt edebilmek için osteolojik bilgi bi-rikimine sahip olmak gerekir. Özellikle kırık veya parçalanmış iskelet malzeme-Turkiye Klinikleri J Foren Med-Special Topics 2017;3(1):21-6 21 İnsan ve Hayvan Kemiklerinin Ayrımı DERLEME Ö ÖZ ZE ET T İçeriği adli veya arkeolojik olsa da insana ait olan veya olmayan kemiklerin doğru bir şekilde tanımlanması için osteoloji analizlerinin yapılması gerekmektedir. Ancak, kemik gelişimi sırasında çok fazla değişime uğradığı gibi tür bazında da gerçekleşen varyasyonlar, yapılan tanımlama çalış-malarını hem kısıtlamaktadır hem de kemiklerin ayrımının yapılmasını zorlaştırmaktadır. Bu ne-denle adli antropolojik çalışmalarda ve arkeolojik alanlardan gelen iskelet veya fosil insan kalıntılarının tanımlanmasında uzman kişilere başvurulması gerekmektedir. Bunun yanı sıra insan-hayvan kemiklerinin ayrımında iyi bir referans koleksiyonun bulunması yapılan çalışmaların gü-venirliğini arttırmaktadır. Bu çalışma kapsamında insan ve hayvan kemiklerinin ayrımında kullanılan morfolojik kriterler ele alınmıştır. A An na ah ht ta ar r K Ke el li im me el le er r: : Adli antropoloji; zooarkeoloji; insan hayvan kemik ayrımı; antropoloji A AB BS ST TR RA AC CT T Distinguishing between human and nonhuman bone is a task that should only be un-dertaken anthropologists. In particular, when bones are highly weathered, eroded, and fragmented, identification may be difficult and limited. Thus, an experienced forensic anthropologist will have help to distinguishing no osseous material from bone. In addition, osteologists can become familiar with animal bones by putting together a comparative collection to determine the species. They can then use this collection to determine the species of questionable bones. In this study, the morphological criteria used to distinguish human and animal bones are discussed. K Ke ey yw wo or rd ds s: : Forensic anthropology; zooarcheology; distinguish nonhuman skeletal; anthropology

To describe the contribution of forensic anthropology to the recovery, analysis, and identification of victims from the 1991-1995 war in Croatia recovered in wells. From 1996 to the present, human remains of a total of 61 individuals have been recovered from 13 wells. Six wells contained the remains of a single individual, one well contained the remains of 2 individuals, and 6 wells contained the remains 3 or more individuals. The majority of wells, containing 90.2% (55/61) of recovered individuals, were located within a 4 km radius of the Croatian-Serbian border. Forensic anthropologists re-individualized 26/61 (42.6%) individuals out of skeletonized and commingled remains, provided basic biological data on sex, age-at-death, and stature in all identifications (n=37), as well as established positive identification by recognizing unique skeletal features (antemortem fractures and skeletal evidence of antemortem surgical interventions) in 3/37 (8.1%) cases. Trauma analyses carried ou...

Abstract:  Dental cementum anchors teeth into their sockets via the periodontal ligament. In mammals, dental cementum is laid down in alternating opaque and translucent bands representing winter (dormant) and summer (growth) seasons. Each pair of bands represents 1 year of life. Estimates of age at death based on counting pairs of bands are highly accurate. If the timing of the transition between winter and summer bands could be identified in humans, dental cementum increment analysis could be used to specify the season at death. This pilot project attempts to determine when these transitions occur and thus provide forensic anthropologists with a technique that would refine our estimates of postmortem interval. Extracted teeth were obtained from a local oral surgeon, embedded, sectioned, ground, polished, and examined under transmitted polarized light. The outermost increment was identified and measured along with other randomly chosen like bands. A transition from translucent to opaque bands was observed in teeth extracted in early October, while teeth extracted in early April exhibited nascent translucent bands. Further, significant correlations were observed between band thickness and number of days into either season, suggesting that band width increases as either season progresses. In this blind study, extracted teeth were effectively sorted into the spring/summer or fall/winter season 99% of the time.

Abstract. In 1801 at the cemetery in Vienna, Austria, the skull of W.A. Mozart was exhumed, and now it has been examined for identification. The osteological findings correspond with the available data of W.A. Mozart. Additional individual particularities and a bone lesion are described. This Applied Anthropology Inquest is available at  http://www.pontecorboli.com/scheda.php?codice=puech

As part of a forensic study to determine the identification of the skull of W.A. MOZART, we noted a case of partial metopic closure in newborn skulls that may explain the orbital deformity, the feminine profile and alterations of the midface with maxillary growth disturbance associated with a dentofacial dysharmony.

In the context of increased scrutiny of the methods in forensic sciences, it is essential to ensure that the approaches used in forensic taphonomy to measure decomposition and estimate the postmortem interval are underpinned by robust evidence-based data. Digital photographs are an important source of documentation in forensic taphonomic investigations but the suitability of the current approaches for photographs, rather than real-time remains, is poorly studied which can undermine accurate forensic conclusions. The present study aimed to investigate the suitability of 2D colour digital photographs for evaluating decomposition of exposed human analogues (Sus scrofa domesticus) in a tropical savanna environment (Hawaii), using two published scoring methods; Megyesi et al., 2005 and Keough et al., 2017. It was found that there were significant differences between the real-time and photograph decomposition scores when the Megyesi et al. method was used. However, the Keough et al. metho...

Arm span (AS) has been reported to be a good substitute for height measurement in osteoskeletally deformed patients and in the elderly with osteoporosis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between arm span and height of the Itsekiris of Nigeria. The study employed a cross-sectional study design involving 300 healthy Itsekiris between the age of 20 and 70 years. The height and arm span of all volunteers were measured to the nearest centimeter. Height was measured with the subject on bare feet, feet together and with the calf, heel, buttocks and upper back touching the wall or stadiometer. The subject’s head was positioned erect with the eyes looking forward. Arm span accordingly was measured with a tape from the tip of the middle finger of one hand to the tip of the middle finger of the other hand, with the subject standing straight and back to the wall, both arms adducted to 90°. In this index, there was a weak positive correlation (0.048) which was not significa...

Facial image identification is an area of forensic sciences, where an expert provides an opinion on whether or not two or more images depict the same individual. The primary concern for facial image identification is that it must be based on sound scientific principles. The recent extensive development in 3D recording technology, which is presumed to enhance performances of identification tasks, has made essential to question conditions, under which 3D images can yield accurate and reliable results. The present paper explores the effect of mesh resolution, adequacy of selected measures of dissimilarity and number of variables employed to encode identity-specific facial features on a dataset of 528 3D face models sampled from the Fidentis 3D Face Database (N $ 2100). In order to match 3D images two quantitative approaches were tested, the first based on closest point-to-point distances computed from registered surface models and the second grounded on Procrustes distances derived from discrete 3D facial points collected manually on tex-tured 3D facial models. The results expressed in terms of rank-1 identification rates, ROC curves and likelihood ratios show that under optimized conditions the tested algorithms have the capacity to provide very accurate and reliable results. The performance of the tested algorithms is, however, highly dependent on mesh resolution and the number of variables employed in the task. The results also show that in addition to numerical measures of dissimilarity, various 3D visualization tools can be of assistance in the decision-making.

Bones fluoresce when exposed to certain wavelengths of shortwave light, and this property can be useful in locating and sorting skeletal remains in forensic contexts. The proteins in bone collagen are largely responsible for its fluorescent properties, but these proteins degrade and denature over time. This study examined the fluorescence of bones from four temporal groups (recent, semi-recent, ancient, and historic) ranging from 0 to 1064 years before present. Specimens were photographed under 490 nm wavelength light, and fluorescence was quantified by converting intensity to a gray scale value based on the RGB color model using ImageJ â software. Significant (p < 0.05) differences were found in mean fluorescence between all four temporal groups, and a 0.324 coefficient of correlation indicates a significant (inverse) relationship between fluorescence and time. Bone fluorescence decreases with time, but some fluorescence is retained even in older samples. Fluorescence can therefore be reliably used in many modern skeletal remains searches.

There is a gap in the literature concerning the chemical effects that household products may produce on human remains. The present study examines the effects of household chemical products on teeth. A total of eight chemicals were utilized for this experiment. The corrosive chemical categories include: hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, phosphoric acid, and sodium hydroxide. Two products with each chemical were used, each representing varying concentrations of the corrosive product. Two human teeth were allocated for emergence in the chemical throughout a 24 h period of exposure. Results demonstrate hydrochloric acid as the most detrimental chemical to the dental samples. Sulfuric acid enacted minimal alterations to the teeth, although some etching and discoloration were noticeable. Phosphoric acid resulted in variable changes of the organic and inorganic contents of teeth. Lastly, exposure of sodium hydroxide resulted in little to no change. As hypothesized, distinct effects are obs...

During the summer of 2007 at Ras al-Ain, in north eastern Syria, forensic archaeological exhumations took place at the archaeological site of Tell Fakhriya, involving a mass
grave believed to hold the remains of Ottoman Armenians, who died at a nearby concentration camp after forced deportations by Ottoman officials. The objective of the forensic analysis of these remains was to obtain biological profiles of those buried within the grave. The exhumations conducted produced a minimum of 80 individuals in various states of skeletal preservation, including adults of both sexes and juveniles. The conclusions provided interesting results, some corroborating historical accounts, whilst also creating open questions. This work is believed to be the first conducted involving forensic archaeology and anthropology in connection to investigations of the Armenian genocide.