A newly assembled human skeletal reference collection of modern and identified Filipinos

The History and Composition of the Identified Human Skeletal Collection of the Certosa Cemetery (Bologna, Italy, 19th–20th Century)

“…Numerous identified collections have been put together all over the world. The best known are from USA Terry Collection and Hamann–Todd Collection (Hunt & Albanese, ); Mexico Mérida Collection (Chi‐Keb et al, ); Argentina Lambre Collection (Salceda et al, ); Chacarita Collection (Bosio et al, ); South Africa Raymond Dart Collection (Dayal et al, ); Pretoria Bone Collection (L'Abbé et al, ); Philippines Manila North Cemetery collection (Go et al, ). A relevant number have been amassed in Europe (Spitafields; cf.…”

An Admixture Approach to Trihybrid Ancestry Variation in the Philippines with Implications for Forensic Anthropology

“…Tables 1a and 1b give the sample sizes per population by geographic region. As we sought to capture the widest possible range of diversity in the Philippines, given present data availability, and explore the effects of sample ascertainment with tests of substructure, we include craniometrics for four different samples: (1) a newly assembled skeletal collection from Manila North Cemetery, representing contemporary Filipinos of forensic significance and low socioeconomic status, selected as available from low-cost niche burials (Go et al 2017), (2) the Philippine series from the Howells (1989) worldwide craniometric dataset, which is said to Pre-print version. Visit http://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/humbiol/ after publication to acquire the final version.…”

“…Overall, these trends reflect different levels of admixture in this region and variation in the source populations for the Southeast Asian samples.With respect to forensic casework, these discoveries attest to the importance of taking into consideration the unique population histories for peoples of Asian origin. For the Philippines in particular, the differences in the magnitude and patterning of admixture among the four samples observed here indicate that Filipino reference samples should be evaluated critically: at present, the Manila cemetery likely represents the most appropriate "forensic" reference sample given the number of available individuals (n=127), the recent dates of death, and the comparability in the marginalized, low socio-economic status of this cemetery's burials and those structurally vulnerable persons who typically comprise the population of forensic cases in this region(Go 2018;Go et al 2017).Population Structure. Overall, the trends discovered from our trihybrid continental ancestry analysis are remarkably concordant with our expectations for admixture in not only modern Filipinos but also more broadly in our sample of Southeast Asian populations.…”

Letter to the Editor — A Code of Practice for the Establishment and Use of Authentic Human Skeleton Collections in Forensic Anthropology

“…Collections of authentic human skeletons (also termed "identified collections" in Europe) are common in medicine, dentistry, archeology, and forensic anthropology (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18). For a comprehensive, but not exhaustive list see the Forensic Anthropology Society of Europe's annotated online map of 120 collections (19).…”

“…Some of these collections are established in developing countries, some draw on cadaver samples from densely populated areas, some are found in cities where crime and violence are common (relatively high death rates), some accession new individuals on a daily basis, and some use unclaimed bodies-a topic whose ethical considerations are attracting broader attention in the anatomical literature (22)(23)(24). Some collections may draw on archaeological sources, yet other collections may be derived from forensic, anatomical, or taphonomic domains (see [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18] for contrasts). In the international context, this sets an obligatory duty of care for collection operators to disclose their technical operations so that end users hold the capacity to make informed decisions regarding the overarching suitability of the collection from multiple perspectives.…”