Assessment of carbon, oxygen, strontium, and lead isotopic variation in modern Colombian teeth: An application to human identification.

Colombia faces the complex humanitarian challenges of locating approximately 100,000 missing persons and identifying thousands who are deceased. Identification is a difficult task in many cases, because the skeletonized bodies are deteriorated, missing person data are unavailable for comparison, and the provenance of the remains is often totally unknown. Isotopic analysis of human tissues (e.

Application and analysis of the Rissech acetabular adult aging method in a Colombian sample.

The classical age indicators of the innominate have been the pubic symphysis and auricular surface. However, recently, the acetabulum has been highlighted as an indicator of adult age, with applicability in young, middle-aged, and older adults. The Rissech acetabular method was developed in a Portuguese population and tested in European and European-Americans, giving estimates within 10 years of age in more than 89% of the sample.

Sex estimation from skull base radiographs in a contemporary Colombian population.

The aim is to study the sexual dimorphism of the base of the skull in radiographs of a bone collection of contemporary Colombian adults, with the intention of formulating discriminant functions capable of classifying sex in this population. The sample consisted of 115 skull base radiographs, (44 females and 71 males), which originated from the Colombian Human Skeletals Collection. Radiographs with good contrast were selected.

A contemporary Colombian skeletal reference collection: A resource for the development of population specific standards.

Several authors who have discussed human variability and its impact on the forensic identification of bodies pose the need for regional studies documenting the global variation of the attributes analyzed osteological characteristics that aid in establishing biological profile (sex, ancestry, biological age and height). This is primarily accomplished by studying documented human skeletal collections in order to investigate secular trends in skeletal development and aging, among others in the Colombian population. The purpose of this paper is to disclose the details of the new "Contemporary Colombian Skeletal Reference Collection" that currently comprises 600 identified skeletons of both sexes, who died between 2005 and 2008; and which contain information about their cause of death.

Metric sex estimation from the postcranial skeleton for the Colombian population.

This research explores the best univariate and multivariate indicators for sex estimation using 51 standard osteometric measurements of all six major postcranial long bones, bones of the shoulder girdle, pelvic girdle, and the calcaneus from a modern, Colombian skeletal collection. The hypotheses being tested are (1) that postcrania will yield accurate sex classification rates and (2) the shoulder girdle will demonstrate the highest discrimination, based on results from previous research. The sample consists of 134 individuals (50 females, 84 males) between the ages of 19 and 93 with a mean age of 47 years.

Estimation of stature by cephalometric facial dimensions in skeletonized bodies: study from a sample modern Colombians skeletal remains.

Estimation of stature is an important factor in the identification of the deceased from unknown fragmentary and dismembered remains. The skull sometimes is the only remain available for identification. The aim of the present study was to estimate the stature of an individual from cephalo-facial dimensions.