Assessment of Commingled Human Remains Using a GIS-Based Approach

Herrmann, Nicholas P.; Devlin, Joanne Bennett

doi:10.1007/978-1-59745-316-5_13

Cited by 17 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…The bone fragments examined in this study represent the commingled remains of more than 20 individuals (Herrmann et al, 2005(Herrmann et al, , 2007Herrmann and Devlin, 2008;Bennett-Devlin et al, 2006a). The assemblage is characterised by extreme fragmentation and a high degree of thermal alteration.…”

Section: Walker-noe 15gd56 Cremainsmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Fragments were macroscopically assessed in terms of surface colours, level of distortion, apparent degree of shrinkage and overall fracture and cracking patterns (see Herrmann et al, 2005Herrmann et al, , 2007Bennett-Devlin et al, 2006a,b;Herrmann and Devlin, 2008;Herrmann et al, 2014, for additional analysis and discussion of the Walker-Noe cremains). Identifiable fragments were digitised using a modified version of the BoneEntryGIS software for ArcView 3.x (Marean et al, 2001).…”

Section: Walker-noe 15gd56 Cremainsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Bone Colour

Devlin¹,

Herrmann²

2015

The Analysis of Burned Human Remains

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Section: Walker-noe 15gd56 Cremainsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Walker-noe 15gd56 Cremainsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bone Colour

Devlin¹,

Herrmann²

2015

The Analysis of Burned Human Remains

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“…Methods compiled by Adams and Byrd () leaned more toward forensic applications, but chapters on ethics (Egana, Turner, Doretti, Bernardi, & Ginarte, ), osteometric sorting (Byrd, ; Byrd & LeGarde, ), X‐ray fluorescence sorting (Perrone, Finlayson, Bartelink, & Dalton, ), epiphyseal sequencing (Schaefer, ), estimating the most likely number of individuals (MLNI) (Adams & Konigsberg, ; Konigsberg & Adams, ), spatial analysis (Herrmann & Devlin, ; Tuller & Hofmeister, ), and recovery methods (Naji et al, ) were of clear utility for bioarchaeologists in the analysis of broken, mixed remains. Schmidt and Symes’ (2015) volume on burned human bone offered commingling‐related methods for fire‐modified remains such as the Bab adh‐Dhra’ EB II–III collection, discussing bone and tooth color changes (Beach, Passalacqua, & Chapman, ; Devlin & Herrmann, ; Ullinger & Sheridan, ), thermal breakdown of bone (DeHaan, ; Schurr, Hayes, & Cook, ; Thompson, ), enamel changes (Mahoney & Miszkiewicz, ; Sandholzer, ; Schmidt, ), and site‐specific reconstructions (Curtin, ; McKinley, ; Schmidt et al, ; Wahl, ).…”

Section: Commingling Challengesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bioarchaeology in the ancientNearEast: Challenges and future directions for the southern Levant

Sheridan

2017

American J Phys Anthropol

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The synthesis of biological anthropology, archaeology, and social theory provides a bioarchaeological model to reconstruct nuanced aspects of demography, diet, disease, death, daily activities, and biodistance, even in the absence of discrete burials. Numerous skeletal assemblages in the southern Levant are composed of mixed and fragmented bones resulting from generational use of cemeteries, mass burial, and additional communal burial practices. Others become commingled due to taphonomic processes such as flooding, geological events, or human mediated mechanisms like looting, improper excavation, and poor curation. Such collections require one to ask broader questions of human adaptability, exercise a holistic approach, use broad demographic categories, and remain cognizant of the limitations posed by fragmentation. Expanded research questions and ethical considerations, the use of centralized databases and understudied collections, as well as the application of social media, citizen science, and crowd sourcing provide new tools for bioarchaeological analyses of the many commingled ancient Near Eastern collections in the southern Levant.

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“…In osteological analysis, commingled assemblages present a situation in which discrete sets of remains are not readily apparent. Commingled assemblages, such as ossuaries, are a fairly common situation in bioarchaeology (Curtin 2008;Herrmann & Devlin 2008;Ubelaker & Rife 2008;Willey 1990). With the increasing utilization of forensic anthropologists in arenas such as mass disaster (Hinkes 1989;Mundorff 2008Mundorff , 2012Sledzik & Rodriguez 2001), cremation litigation (Steadman et al 2008), and human rights investigations (Primorac et al 1996;Varas & Leiva 2012), resolution of commingling is becoming commonplace (Adams & Byrd 2008.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Novel Method for Osteometric Reassociation Using Hamiltonian Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) Simulation

McCormick¹

2019

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Traditional osteometric reassociation uses an error-mitigation approach, which seeks to eliminate possible matches, rather than a predictive approach, where possible matches are directly compared. This study examines the utility of a Bayesian approach for resolving commingling by using a probabilistic framework to predict correct matches. Comparisons were grouped into three types: paired elements, articulating elements, and other elements. Ten individuals were randomly removed from the total sample (N = 833), acting as a small-scale, closed-population commingled assemblage. One element was chosen as the independent variable, with the ten possible matching elements representing the dependent variable. A Bayesian regression model was constructed using the remaining total sample, resulting in a distribution of possible values that were smoothed into a probability density, and probabilities were calculated. The element with the highest posterior probability was considered the best match. This process was repeated 500 times for each comparison. The correct match was identified 51.60% of the time. Paired elements performed the best, at 80.76%, followed by 42.10% for articulating and 33.63% for other comparisons. These results suggest that metric analysis of commingled assemblages is complex and that both elimination-based and predictionbased approaches have a role in resolving commingling. In this regard, the strength of a Bayesian approach is versatility, allowing for prediction of the correct match and elimination of possible matches, as well as integration of independent lines of evidence within one cohesive model.

show abstract

Assessment of Commingled Human Remains Using a GIS-Based Approach

Cited by 17 publications

References 4 publications

Bone Colour

Bone Colour

Bioarchaeology in the ancientNearEast: Challenges and future directions for the southern Levant

A Novel Method for Osteometric Reassociation Using Hamiltonian Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) Simulation

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