The Identified Skeleton Collection of Évora: importance for forensic science and bioarchaeology in the southern inland of Portugal

Abstract

The importance of reference osteological collections is unquestionable. However, the development of methodologies is more reliable the closer the collection is socioeconomically, demographically, and genetically to the population under study. The purpose of this study is to characterize and contextualize a new Portuguese reference collection. The collection of identified skeletons from the University of Évora comprises 201 adults of both sexes and seven non-adults, deceased between 1870 and 1993 and born between 1790 and 1969. It consists almost exclusively of individuals who were born and died in inland Alentejo, being the only Portuguese collection with this characteristic. The collection was built following all current legal and ethical obligations. Due to its characteristics, the collection constitutes a fundamental tool for forensic and bioarchaeological research in the inland regions of Portugal. In addition to the possibility offered to develop and validate methodologies in both sciences, the available complete hospital archives for research make this collection unique for health studies before, during, and after the epidemiological transition.

The Scientific Profiles of Documented Collections via Publication Data: Past, Present, and Future Directions in Forensic Anthropology

“…These 33 papers were written between 1995 and 2021, and they profile 39 collections from 15 countries (Figure 8; see Supplementary Data, Table S2, for data details). The article published in 1995 portrays 5 of the 10 documented collections known to exist in Portugal, also known as the "Identified Collections", which are housed in Portuguese institutions, the universities, and associated museums [18,19,[48][49][50]. Portugal is followed by Brazil, South Africa, and the United States.…”

“…This approach frames, within limits, the use of unclaimed human skeletons exhumed from cemeteries in order to build documented collections. This is described in some of the manuscripts here, analyzed as a process of skeleton acquisition (e.g., [17,18,49,56,64]). There is, however, the need for caution.…”

“…There is, however, the need for caution. For example, in countries with opt-out body and organ donation systems, the inclusion of individuals that did not consent to be donors needs to be considered [18,49,63]. Moreover, the access to remains of autopsied individuals may require additional precautions, as is pointed out by Lopes and Fernandes [18].…”

“…For example, in countries with opt-out body and organ donation systems, the inclusion of individuals that did not consent to be donors needs to be considered [18,49,63]. Moreover, the access to remains of autopsied individuals may require additional precautions, as is pointed out by Lopes and Fernandes [18]. Although this latter consideration is specific to the Portuguese context, one may find similar legal frameworks in other countries.…”

“…Furthermore, the collections listed are not limited to documented collections, as some are of archaeological provenance and are without biographical data associated with the individuals. Hence, although it is a very worthy research tool, data collection and systematization are still ongoing-and will be ongoing indefinitely-since collections are continuously being built and updated [17][18][19][20].…”