An osteological revisitation of autopsies: Comparing anthropological findings on exhumed skeletons to their respective autopsy reports in seven cases

Cappella, Annalisa; Castoldi, Elisa; Sforza, Chiarella; Cattaneo, Cristina

doi:10.1016/j.forsciint.2014.09.003

Cited by 23 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…If we consider one standard deviation (1SD) in only 19.8% of the sample, it was provided a correct estimation, while considering 2SD, the success rate increases to 68.6%. (15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24) 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 2 (25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34) 0.000 1.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 3 (35)(36)(37)(38)(39)(40)(41)(42)(43)(44) 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.428 0.000 0.000 0.000 4 (45)(46)(47)(48)(49)(50)(51)(52)(53)(54) 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.428 0.045 0.000 0.000 5 (55)(56)(57)(58)(59)(60)(61)(62)(63)(64) 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.143 0.348 0.000 ...…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Issue of Age Estimation in a Modern Skeletal Population: Are Even the More Modern Current Aging Methods Satisfactory for the Elderly?,

Cappella

Cummaudo

Arrigoni

et al. 2016

Journal of Forensic Sciences

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The main idea behind age assessment in adults is related to the analysis of the physiological degeneration of particular skeletal structures with age. The main issues with these procedures are due to the fact that they have not been tested on different modern populations and in different taphonomic contexts and that they tend to underestimate the age of older individuals. The purpose of this study was to test the applicability and the reliability of these methods on a contemporary population of skeletal remains of 145 elderly individuals of known sex and age. The results show that, due to taphonomic influences, some skeletal sites showed a lower survival. Therefore, the methods with the highest percentage of applicability were Lovejoy (89.6%) and Rougé-Maillart (81.3%), followed by Suchey-Brooks (59.3%), and those with the lowest percentage of applicability were Beauthier (26.2%) and Iscan (22.7%). In addition, this research has shown how for older adults the study of both acetabulum and auricular surface may be more reliable for aging. This is also in accordance with the fact that auricular surface and the acetabulum are the areas more frequently surviving taphonomic insult.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Issue of Age Estimation in a Modern Skeletal Population: Are Even the More Modern Current Aging Methods Satisfactory for the Elderly?,

Cappella

Cummaudo

Arrigoni

et al. 2016

Journal of Forensic Sciences

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show abstract

“…It is indeed possible that the men received additional heavy injuries to the soft tissue and inner organs, which did not leave any traces on the skeletons. Recent examinations show that violent attacks often lead to soft tissue injuries, only a small percentage of which, however, can be identified on the bone itself [84,139]. …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The face of war: Trauma analysis of a mass grave from the Battle of Lützen (1632)

Nicklisch

Ramsthaler

Meller³

et al. 2017

PLoS ONE

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Contemporary accounts of battles are often incomplete or even erroneous because they reflect the—often biased—viewpoints of the authors. Battlefield archaeology faces the task of compiling an historical analysis of a battle and of gathering all the available facts. Besides cultural historical evidence and artefacts, the human remains of those who have fallen in battle also provide invaluable information. In studying mass graves from a military context, the injury types and patterns are significant. They allow us to reconstruct the circumstances surrounding the soldiers’ deaths and provide information on the hostilities that occurred on the battlefield. One such mass grave was discovered in 2011 at Lützen, Saxony-Anhalt (Germany). Based on its geographical location and on the results obtained from archaeological examinations carried out in the area, the grave could be dated to the Thirty Years War (1618–1648). Further archaeological research confirmed that the dead had been soldiers from the Battle of Lützen (1632). The mass grave was block-lifted and then comprehensively examined at the State Museum of Prehistory in Halle (Saale). As well as osteological examinations to determine age, sex, height, state of health, i.e. diseases or injuries, imaging methods were also employed and histological and isotopic analyses carried out. The focus of this study was on the injuries sustained by the soldiers both prior to and during the battle. The results revealed that the 47 deceased had been between the ages of 15 and 50 when they died. Numerous healed injuries showed that the men had often been involved in violent encounters. Approximately three in every four soldiers had injuries that could have been fatal. Wounds inflicted by handguns, particularly to the skull, were predominant. The integrative analysis of the archaeological and anthropological data allowed us to conclude that the majority had been killed during a cavalry attack.

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“…This is crucial to test whether circumstances of death can be reliably reconstructed and a first tentative undertaking of the task has been offered here. In addition, this study presents an advantage over retrospective studies based on autopsy reports' findings as these sometimes lack detailed description of some types, exact location, and characteristics of fractures; plus, the evaluation of some fractures might be unintentionally omitted during the autopsy procedure and become, therefore, underreported (55,66). Finally, because each of the cases analyzed in this study replicates the conditions under which forensic anthropologists would be examining remains during an actual forensic case, that is, incomplete skeletonized remains in various degrees of conservation and affected by taphonomical factors, this study can be considered a realistic illustration of the potential and limitations of skeletal trauma analysis to the reconstruction of the circumstances of death.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparing Known and Reconstructed Circumstances of Death Involving a Blunt Force Trauma Mechanism through a Retrospective Analysis of 21 Skeletonized Individuals

Marinho

Cardoso

2016

Journal of Forensic Sciences

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Little is known about to what extent the events surrounding death can be reliably reconstructed from blunt force trauma analysis alone. In this study, we reconstruct circumstances of death from a blind blunt force trauma analysis using a sample of 21 individuals of known death circumstances, obtained from two identified skeletal collections in Portugal. Fresh versus dry bone trauma and probable mechanism of fracture production were identified. The overall pattern of injuries was then used to reconstruct the most likely circumstances of death. Results show an agreement between the proposed and the reported circumstances for 13 individuals (68.4%), disagreement for 3 (15.8%), and similarity in 3 cases (15.8%). Although the significant amount of agreement highlights the potential of trauma analysis, the cases with disagreement draw attention to the pitfalls and shortcomings of attempting to reconstruct the death circumstances from skeletal trauma analysis alone.

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An osteological revisitation of autopsies: Comparing anthropological findings on exhumed skeletons to their respective autopsy reports in seven cases

Cited by 23 publications

References 29 publications

The Issue of Age Estimation in a Modern Skeletal Population: Are Even the More Modern Current Aging Methods Satisfactory for the Elderly?,

The Issue of Age Estimation in a Modern Skeletal Population: Are Even the More Modern Current Aging Methods Satisfactory for the Elderly?,

The face of war: Trauma analysis of a mass grave from the Battle of Lützen (1632)

Comparing Known and Reconstructed Circumstances of Death Involving a Blunt Force Trauma Mechanism through a Retrospective Analysis of 21 Skeletonized Individuals

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