The Establishment

of Identity of
human remains
Dr.raed almomani
Dr.husam shawaqfeh
The identity of The identity of dead person as ethical and humanitarian issues and
it's important for surviving relatives

the dead is an The establish of dead is important for official, statistical and legal
essential part purpose

of postmortem To know the identity of the dead for ceremonial need

examination,
for various to prove claims for life insurance contracts, survivor’s pensions, and
other financial matters
reasons. These to facilitate police enquiries into overtly criminal or suspicious
iNclude deaths, as the identity of the deceased person is a vital factor in
initiating investigations
Other certains aspects for
identity of dead :
      Non medical : recognition of
clothing, documents and personal
property
sex, stature, ancestry and age.
medical content, including
identification of fingerprints and
personal property such as surgical
prostheses
Comparison of the remains with
ante-mortem information and
records from those thought to be
the victims, which restricts the
method by making it dependent
upon the existence or availability
of such comparable material.
The situations where need to
identification of dead includes :

Decomposed
Skeletalized
corpses. Many
material. If all soft
surface features
tissues are absent,
may be partially or
identity depends
Fresh corpses Here wholly lost, but
solely on
visual recognition, more information
Mutilated and osteological
directly or by can be obtained
dismembered examination and
photography, may than from a
corpses. Depending measurements and
be made. Hair skeleton. Direct
on the degree of the recognition of
colour, skin measurement of
mutilation and the any pathological or
pigmentation, scars body height, for
amount of tissue anatomical
and tattoos can be example, may be
missing abnormalities in
examined without possible, as well as
bone, as well as
difficulty. DNA investigations
DNA extraction and
and organ
analysis from
abnormalities, such
compact bone
as past surgical
tissue.
intervention
Characteristics common in identifying dead
Facial Identifying Eye colour​ Skin pigmentation​ Hair colour​ Hair structure​ Tattoos​ ​
appearance​ scars ​

Hypostasis, Scars on the Loss of intraocular ​ ostmortem skin changes include livor mortis
P The head, pubic and ​ egroid head hair being
N Tattooing refers to marking of the skin by puncturing and introducing ​
contact skin may arise tension and clouding of , vibices, Tardieu spots, and marbling.  axillary hair is one of dark and having a spiral pigmented material. Although it derives from a Polynesian word, tautau,
flattening, from any the cornea develops Livor mortis refers to the bluish- the most resistant twist with a flattened, decorative tattooing has been found in most societies over many centuries.
oedema, previous progressively within a purple discoloration (lividity) under the skin of identifying features, elliptical crosssection. The purpose of tattooing has varied from simple decoration, to a marker of
muscle injury that has few hours, making the the lower body parts due to gravitation of sometimes lasting Mongoloid hair is less social rank, criminal and noncriminal group membership, or a particular
rite of passage in tribal communities. Tattooing may be used in medicine to
flaccidity and breached the iris harder to observe. blood after death. Onset of lividity, its millennia in favourable pigmented and is mark areas for radiotherapy, and may occur inadvertently associated with
pallor​ epidermis, as Collapse of the front of location and color, provide information on the environments​ straight with a certain occupations such as coal mining. Forensically, tattoos may be very
superficial the globe occurs within time and cause of death. Vibices are pale cylindrical cross-section. useful in assisting with body identification if facial features or fingers have
injuries to the a day or two and, with marks on a dead person's skin that are caused Caucasian hair is round been damaged or removed. Aspects of a decedent's history may also be
upper layer of developing by dermal pressure (e.g. marks around the or ovoid in cross-section deduced from certain tattoos such as military tattoos in service personnel,
skin will heal decomposition​ neck from a rope). Dark pinpoint spots rudimentary line tattoos with antisocial and anti-police messages in ex-
without a (Tardieu spots) are seen when capillaries prisoners, and syringes, marihuana leaves or mushrooms in illicit drug
trace. Where  rupture due to increased gravitational users. Tattoos have become more common in recent years in younger
the dermis pressure (e.g. in the legs of a hanged person). individuals in the West and so should be expected to be found with
increasing incidence at the time of forensic autopsy examinations.
has been A prominent purple discoloration of Increasing population movements also mean that less common tattoos
entered, subdermal vessels appears later in the may be encountered during forensic evaluations.​
healing occurs process of decomposition and leaves a 
by marbling pattern.
organization
of the plug of
blood clot
and/or
granulation
tissue

​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​
Hair structure
 • Clothing , ornaments and other associated objects but
it must be borne in mind that another ancestry may a
doubt these through choice , marriage or single .
• Hair texture style and length and beard the hair of the
Factors and seekh , the beard of the orthodox Jew the crinkle hair
of niggouros the straight black hair of Asian how ever

point to
these features are can misleading. Forensic science
techniques maybe needed to detect and identify
bleaching and dying change in hair .

classifications • Physical artifact include penile and vulvae

circumcision , nose and ear piercing lip perforation ,

ithenics :
triple fascia scars and earlobe distention in east African
and some tribes and sirwaks
• Facial appearance is of course a measure criteria with
the high cheek bones epicanthic folds in  Mongolians
and prognathism and nasal differences in nigroid
people
Body size gives rise to the same uncertainty , specially as racial differences have lessened in
better nutrition in some groups how ever the Japanese are generally are smaller the
northern Europeans and negroid bone structure the femora and are longer and less curved
than thus of other ancetiery

Finally , skin pigmentation can obviously to differentiate the nigrous escintery from other
groups , there is a continuous range of skin color, the slighter melanin content in Mongolian
ascentiary but merges into the variable tints of schematics , Asian and Mediterranean
people .
Finger, palm, foot and lip prints
The police may wish to take fingerprint of doctors who visit the locus to eliminate then
in their enquiries and their obviously nothing objectionable about this .
When called to a scene of death the doctor would take care to avoid handling pbjects
and furniture to reduce the need for such laboratories screening of prints .
Police usually attend the mortuary to take full sets of fingerprint of usual way by ruling
ink on the finger-pads and pressing the pulbs against records card .
When the body putrified the doctor can assist by removing disquimated casts from the
finger for the police , the skin maby placed in formalin , alcohol or glycerin solution
specially where maceration in an emersed body has caused swelling and blurring the
epidermis.
• Naegeli–Franceschetti–Jadassohn syndrome (NFJS)and dermatopathia pigmentosa
reticularis (DPR) that hare the complete absence of fingerprints.
The criminal may attempt to oblitriate his fingerprint by scarring the
fingers pad . To be effective this must be drastic enough to damage the
underlying dermis and the consecuent cicatrices will be more obvious
than the original print
As with fingerprints the skin pattern of palms , soles and even lips are
said to be unique and have been used for identifications but again this
really a police business .the pattern of veins on the back of the hand it
is also said to be characteristic to one in visual .
Identifying scars
These can be important of identification of unknown bodies , even in some degree of putrefaction exist.
Scars on the skin may arise in any previous injury that has breached the epidermis as a superficial injuries to the upper layer
of the skin will heal without trace .
If the wound is inflicted by surgical instrument ( glass or sharp knife ) the result the scar will be narrow and not significant .
gapping or infections or burns larger laceration and make the scars greater
As always , scars evidence must be taken in conjunction with all other details of identity .
Turning to traumatic scars other than surgical the pathologist must be able to recognize the cause to assist in identity and
history from the relative of the deceased can assist the type of injury and how does it happen .
Some scars can define the religion or the ethnic of the deceased
In linear scars , cicatrise of burns , keloid overgrowth in negroids hyper pigmentation or depigmentation all of these factors
assist in identity .
The old scars of wrists – or throat – slashing indicate previous attends at suicide .
The cigarette burns are pattern and frequently for child abuse , torture in custody , inter – prisoner violence self harm
individuals with low self – esteem and personality disorder .
By other hand Traitional Chinese medical therapy using moxa by burning it on patient`s skin
And it is noticeable I alcoholic traumatic origin is lower limb burses due to falling down
The age of scars
The age of scars is very difficult to assist and once t becomes mature no change
will occure for the rest of persons life
The linear surgical wounds healing In short time in assume that no infection and
hematoma will develop .
Brownish red wound at this stage remain vascular for several onths depending on
width
Pink wound contains blood vessels gradually fades and narrow surgical incision
may ba white in 4-6 month .
These time are variable dependent in nature of the skin and its pigmentation and
the part of the body involved.
The scars don’t carry hair follicles , sweat glands and sebaceous glands
Occupational stigmata
• Best known is the ‘blue scar’ of coal-miners, an involuntary
tattoo caused by dust entering small lacerations on the
hands and face.
• Some miners and quarrymen also have small facial
scars due to rock splinters scattered during blasting.
• Steel workers and foundry males may have tiny burn
scars on exposed areas from the spattering of hot metal.
• Cuts, scars, callosities and hyperkeratosis of the hands
are obvious indicators of rough work.
The stature of an intact body
• The height of a dead body may differ from the height during life in
either direction, being slightly longer or shorter, though lengthening is
much more common.
• In addition, the measured height may change a little at different
periods after death.
• Because of the complete loss of muscle tone in the first stage of
flaccidity, relaxation at large joints, such as the hip and knee, the body
may lengthen by up to 2–3 cm.
• Loss of tension in the intervertebral discs tends to shorten the spinal
column and hence the total height by a centimetre or so.
Determination of sex
in non-skeletalized bodies
• This is usually obvious and rarely presents problems ,The issue of intersex and
hermaphroditism is so rare as to be discounted in most forensic practice,
except in some areas, such as South-east Asia, where deliberate
transsexualism in males, aided by surgical intervention to feminize the
genitalia and breasts occurs more frequently.
• Female pubic hair usually grows low on the abdomen, the upper margin being
a horizontal or semicircular edge above the mons veneris.
• The male pattern rises more in the centre line, sometimes as far as the
umbilicus.
• The presence or absence of circumcision should be noted, as it may help in
identification of certain ethnic and religious groups such as Jews and Muslims.
• Where putrefaction is advanced, examination of the internal pelvic
organs may still reveal unequivocal evidence of sex. Internal viscera
are often in better condition than the outside of the body. The uterus is
the organ in the body most resistant to decomposition, though the
prostate is also quite persistent.
• DNA analysis now can give give additional powerful tools in sexing
and determining the human origin of subanatomical fragments.
• Sex is now generally established on soft tissues via amplification for
the amelogenin gene.
Age of non-skeletalized bodies
• Determining the personal age of a corpse is far harder than determining its sex.
• Hair colour is of general applicability, though everyone knows of someone
whose hair is grey at 25 or who is dark haired at 70.
• The eyes are useful, in that a grey or white ring around the pupil – the ‘arcus
senilis’ – is rarely seen below 60 years.
• In infants and children, the height and weight may be compared with standard
tables, but developmental defects, disease and malnourishment may introduce
considerable errors.
• The age of about 20–25, teeth, ossification centres and epiphyseal fusion are
good indicators
Ancestry
• Much of the identification of ancestry depends on common
knowledge and recognition of various ethnic traits.
• Everyone can recognize the deep pigmentation of a West African, the
epicanthic folds of the Mongoloid ancestry, the red-haired Celt and
the pale blond common in Scandinavia.
-In the intact or only partially decomposed body, the following factors
may be used as pointers to ethnic classification, but the non-specificity of
most of these must always be borne in mind:
• Clothing, ornaments and other associated objects. A vast catalogue can
be assembled (such as the string around the wrist in Hindus), but it must
be borne in mind that other ancestry may adopt these through choice,
marriage or deception.
• Hair texture, style and length and beards. Examples are the hair of the
Sikh, the beard of the orthodox Jew, the crinkly hair or ‘peppercorn’
(clumped growth) of some Negroids, the multiplaiting of Rastafarian
West Indians, the straight black hair of Asians and the ginger hair most
common in Celtic people, Forensic science techniques may be needed
to detect and identify bleaching and dyeing changes in hair.
• Physical artefacts include penile and vulval circumcision, nose and ear
piercing, lip perforation tribal facial scars, and earlobe distension in East
Africans and some tribes in Sarawak.
• Facial appearance is, of course, a major criterion with the high cheek
bones and epicanthic folds of the Mongoloid peoples.
• Body size gives rise to the same uncertainty, especially as racial
differences have lessened with better nutrition in some groups, that
Japanese are generally smaller than northern Europeans and that in
Negroid bone structure the femora are proportionately longer and
less curved than those of other ancestry
• Finally, skin pigmentation can obviously differentiate the Negroid
ancestry from the other main groups,though again there is a
continuous range of skin colour. To a lesser extent the slighter melanin
content of the skin of Mongoloid ancestry is recognizable.
Identification by DNA characteristics
• Identification of human remains by DNA is nowadays standard
procedure, Human stains, residues, and remains can now be
identified with almost 100 per cent certainty in most cases.
• two factors can hinder genetic testing: the degradation of the sample
and related problems of DNA extraction, and the lack of appropriate
antemortem comparative data.
Identification of skeletalized remains
• One of the classic problems of forensic pathology, the identification of
a whole or partial skeleton, involves techniques and expertise that
span a number of disciplines from anatomy to radiology, from
archaeology to dentistry, as well as genetics.
-For identifying bony remains falls into two distinct sections:
• allotting the bones to general categories based on absolute criteria
concerning species, ancestry, sex, stature, age and date
• comparative studies, where the remains are matched against ante-
mortem data derived from those people who might be potential
victims.
The general categorization of skeletal
remains
When objects thought to be skeletal remains are found, the following questions
need to be asked and, where possible, answered:
• Are they bones?
• Are they human bones?
• What is the sex?
• What is the stature?
• What is the ancestry or race?
• What is the age?
• How long have they been dead and/or concealed?
• What was the cause of death?
Are the remains actually bones?
• Untrained persons may provide objects that falsely resemble bones.
• The mistake is even more common when these objects are mixed
with undoubted bones, usually animal in origin, which may be found
burnt, buried or mingled with rubble.
• In the more difficult cases, microscopic and chemical tests will usually
lead to an adequate solution.
Are the bones of human origin?
• First, the size is assessed, and many small, slender bones excluded on obvious grounds.
• Difficulties arise with smaller bones from some animals, especially the hands and feet, where digits,
metatarsals and metacarpals require careful study to distinguish them from the human.
• When bones are incomplete or fragmentary, the problems escalate rapidly.
• If the ends of longer bones are present, then their non-human shape may be more readily
determined.
• Histological examination may offer a species differentiation – or at least help to exclude a human
origin.
• If the bones are too fragmentary to provide any anatomical data, then serological investigations
must be attempted. These depend on species-specific proteins being extracted from the bone into
solution where they can be tested against specific antisera, particularly monoclonal ones. Thus the
test is essentially seeking plasma constituents within the bone, the recognition being carried out by
techniques such as enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) or radioimmunoassay (RIA)Once
again, DNA testing also may solve the problem.
The determination of sex
• The accuracy of determination of the sex of skeletal remains varies with the age of
the subject, the degree of fragmentation of the bones and biological variability,
Particularly when studying the skull and pelvis, a subjective impression by the
experienced observer defies complete analysis.
• The determination of sex is statistically the most important criterion.
• Similarly, ancestry confuses sexing, for example, the size of the supraorbital ridges
in a normal negroid female may exceed those in the average Caucasian male.
• Sex and age are linked, especially where body size and weight are concerned.
• In general, adult female skeletal measurements are about 94 percent that of the
male of the same ancestry, but different measurements may vary from 91 to 98
per cent.
The skull

• The following features develop after puberty and are modified by senility,
so are applicable only between about the 20th and the 55th year. Age as
well as ancestry has a profound effect:
• General appearance: The female skull is rounder and smoother than the
rugged male.
• Size: Male skulls are larger, with an endocranial volume some 200 ml
greater.
• Muscle ridges: are more marked in male skulls, especially in occipital areas
where larger muscles are attached to the nuchal crests, and in temporal and
mandibular areas for larger masseter and temporalis muscles.
• Supraorbital ridges: are more marked in male skulls and may be absent in
female.
• Mastoid process: This is larger in male skulls.
• Frontal and parietal eminences: These are more prominent in female skulls, which
resemble the shape in an infant more than in a male.
• Palate: This is larger and of a more regular U-shape in males. The smaller female palate
tends to be parabolic.
• Orbits are set lower on the face in the male skull, with more square and less sharp edges
(especially upper edge) than the female.
• Glabella (central forehead eminence above the nose) is more marked in males and orbital
margines are rounder and less sharp.
• Nasal aperture. This is higher and narrower in the male skull and has sharper edges. The
nasal bones are larger and project further forward to meet at a more acute angle than in
the female.
• Forehead. This is high and steep in the female skull, with a more rounded infantile
contour than the male.
• Zygomatic process. The posterior ridge projects back beyond external auditory meatus in
the male skull. The zygomatic arches bow outward more than the female, where they
remain more medial.
• The nuchal crest is more pronounced in males.
• Mandible. This is large in the male skull, with a squarer symphysis
region. Female jaws are more rounded and project less at the anterior
point.

• **The criteria set out above exclude prepubertal and senile persons,
and are less valid for those outside the 20–55 age group.
Sex characteristics in the pelvis
• The post-pubertal female pelvis is wider and shallower than the
rather upright male girdle to allow for the passage of the fetus during
childbirth.
• As in the skull, the male pelvis is more rugged because of the
attachment of stronger muscles. It stands higher and more erect than
the smoother, flatter, female pelvic girdle.
• The body of the pubic bone, the block lateral to the symphysis, tends
to be triangular in shape in the male, whilst the female pubis is more
rectangular.
• Certain sexual variations in the pubis have been used by Phenice. In the female
these are:
• a bony ridge (‘ventral arc’) running down the ventral surface from the pubic crest
• a concavity of the lower margin of the inferior pubic ramus immediately lateral
to the lower border of the symphysis
• a ridge of elevated bone on the medial aspect of the ischiopubic ramus,
immediately lateral to the symphysis; in the male this area is broad and flat.
• The ‘ischiopubic index’ devised by Washburn may be helpful, in which the pubic
length (×100) is divided by the ischial length.58 The measurements must be
carefully made, the pubic length being from the plane of the symphysis to the
reference point in the acetabulum and the ischial length being from the same
point to the most distal edge of the ischium.
• If the ischiopubic index (in White race) is less than 90, the pelvis is male; if over
95, it is female. The acetabulum is larger in the male, being an average of 52 mm
in diameter, compared with 46 mm in the female.
• The greater sciatic notch is an important criterion, being deep and
narrow in the male, wide and open in the female.
• The pelvic inlet, looked at from above, is more circular in the female,
the male being heart-shaped as a result of the protrusion of the
sacrum into the posterior brim.
Sex characteristics in the sacrum
• The sacrum is functionally part of
the pelvis and shares in its sex
variations. The female sacrum is
wide and has a shallow curve, again
related to the larger pelvic canal for
childbirth. It is shorter in the
female.
• The male sacrum may have more
than five segments,which is rare in
the female.
• The curve in the male is
continuous down the whole
bone and there may even be
a slight forward projection of
the coccyx.

• In 97 per cent of the males

bridging was extra-articular,
whereas in all females
bridging was intra-articular.
Sexing from the long bones
• The femur is the most useful, its length and massiveness themselves being
significant. There is, as usual, considerable overlap of all long-bone sex
characteristics, but Brash’s series showed that the maximum (oblique)
length in the male femur was around 459 mm, while that of the female was
only 426 mm.
• Pearson and Bell suggested mean values of 447 mm for males and 409 mm
for females.
• Using the trochanteric oblique length, they suggested a range of 390–405
mm for females and 430–450 mm for males.
• The size of the femoral heads is claimed to be a better discriminant of sex,
greater than 45 mm in the male and less than 41 mm in the female.
• Dwight studied the size of both femoral
and humeral heads, claiming that they
were more useful than bone length.
• Most workers have worked with dry
bone specimens; when methods using
fresh bone are used, allowance must
be made for articular cartilage where
relevant. For example, the vertical
diameter of a femoral head is 3 mm
less in the dried specimen.
 Sex determination from other bones

• The sternum may be helpful in that the length of the manubrium in the female may equal or exceed half
the length of the body, while the manubrium of the male is less than half the body length.
• The scapula has been studied extensively, but mostly in relation to age.
• The humerus, radius and ulna yield little helpful sexing evidence, apart from overall size, The presence
• of a perforated olecranon fossa at the lower end of the humerus occurs more often in females and more
commonly on the left side, there being a 3.7:1 ratio compared with males.
• In conclusion, virtually every bone in the body has been tested for its sexing potential and in different racial
groups; nonetheless methods relying on the cranium and pelvis, only in adults, are the most reliable.
Evidence of pregnancy from the skeleton
• More accurately, parturition causes some changes in the pelvis as a
result of the local trauma of childbirth, which is reinforced by multiple
pregnancies. These include ‘pubic scars’ from the tearing of tendon
insertions and periosteum around the pubic bone. The use of dorsal
pubic surface and the pre-auricular sulcus as an indicator of past
pregnancies is considered to be somewhat controversial.
Estimation of stature from skeletal remains
• When a full skeleton is available, then obviously direct measurement of
the correctly assembled bones will give the original height within a few
centimetres.
• For the loss of cartilage in joint spaces and especially for missing
intervertebral discs, the accuracy achieved with direct measurement is
not great, in that even with an intact body there can be a lengthening of
up to 2.5 cm compared with the live height.
• The skeleton needs scalp and heel soft tissue thickness added – and with
the obvious uncertainty about the cumulative allowances for disc
thickness and joint cartilage, it is unrealistic to expect accuracy of less
than about 4–8 cm compared with the living height.
• When incomplete skeletal material is available, calculations have to
be made on the basis of one or more bones. Where possible, all
available bones should be used and a consensus of results assessed,
though the accuracy derived from different bones varies and the
result from – say, a femur – is more reliable than that from an ulna.
• The descending order of usefulness is: femur, tibia, humerus, radius.
 The following cautions must be
appreciated before they are used:
• The tables were constructed from differing ethnic groups and at different
times, so that racial and nutritional factors introduce significant variations.
• There is a marked sex difference in stature estimation and ageing of the
person also reduces stature relative to long bone length.
• Trotter and Gleser found in 855 bodies that there was a 1.2 cm loss of
height for each two decades of age over the age of 30, a loss of height
equivalent to about 0.6 mm a year after the fourth decade. The same
investigation showed that the length of the cadaver was about 2.5 cm
longer than the known height during life. The maximum stature (at least in
American males) was found in 1951 to be reached at the age of 23 years, a
change from earlier estimates in which the peak was found to occur
between 18 and 21 years of age.
• Old dry bones are slightly shorter than recent material, even when
one excludes the loss of articular cartilage, 2 mm must be deducted
from the length of fresh bone before the calculation is made.
Estimating the subject’s ag from skeletal
structures
• It is more usual to have to estimate fetal and neonatal age on the
intact dead body, rather than the skeleton, as the immature bones are
so easily dispersed, lost and destroyed compared to the more robust
bones of older subjects.
• Stewart has produced a useful nomogram that relates fetal femoral
length to crown–rump length and hence to approximate gestational
age.
• Radiology may provide more information than visual inspection.
Skeletal age in the child and young adult
• Maturity is not synonymous with calendar age.There are both sexual,
racial, nutritional and other biological variations.
• Females are almost always in advance of males, and maturity tends
to be accelerated in hotter climates, though the latter may be
tempered by nutritional disadvantages.
 Skeletal ageing in later years
• The eruption of the third molar teeth and the
fusion of the last epiphysis occurs
approximately in the middle of the third
decade.
• From around 25 years until old age, there are
no dramatic events such as tooth eruption or
the appearance of ossification centres.
• The major advances in this difficult period
have been the use of the pubic symphysis
and sternal ribs and the radiology of
cancellous bone. However, dental technology
may further refine the assessment of age.
Aging adults
• Determination of biological age in adult skeletons is quite difficult and
constitutes one of the most difficult tasks of forensic anthropology.
• General markers of old age do exist: osteoporosis, articular surface
degeneration, osteophytes; however, these are severely influenced by
pathology, nutrition and interindividual variability.
• Physical anthropology has established several methods for determining
age in adults – macroscopic, microscopic and biomolecular, but most
methods have error ranges, which encompass 10-15 years. Macroscopic
methods are the most important ones and consist principally in the degree
of degeneration of selected articulations such as the pubic symphysis,
osteochondral surface of the 4th rib, auricular surface of the ilium.
•Ulnae at three different
stages: top, 18 years;
middle, 15 years (note
the non-fusion of the
distal end); lower, 3
months.
• Todd, McKern, Stewart and Gilbert were the first authors who extensively
studied the pubic symphysis for aging and developed a method.
• More recently Brooks and Suchey devised a 6-stage method, which has
become the most user-friendly and popular for aging.Briefly, in young
adults the symphyseal surface of the pubic bones (i.e. the joint between
the two pubic bones) has a billowed appearance, with deep and furrowed
bone ridges running across the surface in parallel. As the person ages, the
furrows gradually become filled and the surface becomes flatter and even.
Around this surface an oval outline is formed and an initial crest begins to
form on the ventral margin. Then the surface starts to deteriorate.
Phases are as follows:
• 1 Symphyseal face has a billowing surface (ridges and furrows), which
usually extends to include the pubic tubercle, mean age in males 18.5
(95 per cent CI 15–24), in females 19.4 (95 per cent CI 15–23).
• 2 The symphyseal face may still show ridge development. The face has
commencing delimitation of lower and/or upper extremities occurring
with or without ossific nodules, mean age in males 23.4 (95 per cent
CI 19–34), in females 25 (95 per cent CI 19–40).
• 3 Symphyseal face shows lower extremity and ventral rampart in
process of completion. There can be a continuation of fusing ossific
nodules forming the upper extremity and along the ventral border,
mean age in males 28.7 (95 per cent CI 21-46), in females 30.7 (95 per
cent CI 21–53).
• 4 Symphyseal face is generally fine grained, although remnants of the
old ridge and furrow system may still remain. Usually the oval outline
is complete at this stage, but a hiatus can occur in upper ventral rim,
mean age in males 35.2 (95 per cent CI 23–57), in females 38.2 (95
per cent CI 27–49).
• 5 Symphyseal face is completely rimmed with some slight depression
of the face itself, relative to the rim. Moderate lipping is usually found
on the dorsal border with more prominent ligamentous outgrowths
on the ventral border, mean age in males 45.6 (95 per cent CI 27–66),
in females 48.1 (95 per cent CI 25–83).
• 6 Symphyseal face may show ongoing depression as rim erodes.
Ventral ligamentous attachments are marked. In many individuals the
pubic tubercle appears as a separate bony knob, mean age in males
61.2 (95 per cent CI 49–73), in females 60 (95 per cent CI 42–87).
 Fourth rib

• This method was developed by Iscan et al. and evaluates the profile of the osteochondral
articulation of the rib, its depth and the profile of the margin. As age increases the profile becomes
more irregular with margins, which go from a V-form to a U-form; depth increases and sternal
insertion is more irregular.
• One disadvantage of this method is that at times, with commingled remains, it is difficult to identify
the 4th rib, or it may not be available.
• To the left, sternal end of the 4th
rib of a young second stage
according to Iscan et al. with
fairly regular margins and a
shallow concavity; to the right an
older rib, stage 8, with scalloped
and irregular osteophytic
margins. (Milano skeletal
collection reproduced by kind
permission of Professor C.
Cattaneo.)
Auricular surface of the ilium
• This method was devised by Lovejoy et al. in 1985 and is based, as for
the pubic symphysis, on the degeneration, in eight phases, of the
auricular surface of the ilium, according to the degeneration of the
apex, the superior half of the surface, the inferior half, the
retroauricular area, granulosity, density, micro- and macroporosity of
the surface.
• The Lamendin test is considered by literature the most accurate
method of age estimation, especially between 40 and 60 years, but
recent studies have demonstrated a variability in accordance with
ancestry and gender, requiring specific correction factors.
• Macroscopic alterations of teeth are also relevant. In particular,
dentine translucency seems important – a variable which increases
with age. As far as dental methods are concerned, the Lamendin
method16 is the most reliable among dental tests: it utilizes
parodontal disease and translucency of rooth in monoradicular teeth
throughout the following formula:
• Age = (0.18P′) + (0.42T′) + 25.53
- where P′ = P/L×100
• T′ = T/L×100
• L = teeth length
• P = height of periodontosis
• T = height of root traslucency
• The Lamendin test is considered by
literature the most accurate method of
age estimation, especially between 40
and 60 years.
Determination of ancestry from skeletal
remains
• This is more difficult than any of the preceding investigations, partly because racial traits
are not so marked and partly because so much ethnic mixing has taken place, especially
in the large-scale immigrations into Europe and North America in recent years.
• There are three main racial groups: Caucasian, Mongoloid and Negroid.
• All others are derived from these and skeletally cannot be distinguished, though when
archaeologists and anthropologists are working within a major ancestry, there may well
be local criteria that can distinguish subgroups with varying degrees of confidence.
• Most work has been performed in North America and thus most available data are
derived from Caucasian and Negroid Americans and Native Americans.
• The skull offers the best evidence on racial origins, Krogman and Iscan claimed that
ancestry can be determined in 90–95 per cent of cases
• Especially the lower limb,
Negroid bones are longer
than those of Caucasian or
Mongoloid skeletons, even
for equal total body length,
the leg proportions being
greater.
Reconstruction of the facial appearance from
the skull

• The advantages of such a technique are obvious as,

when a skull is discovered one prime method of
identification would be a reliable reconstruction of the
face, so that direct recognition could be obtained from
relatives, friends and photographic records.
• Reconstruction of the facial muscle layers and positioning of tissue
depths in facial approximation.
Reconstruction of the facial appearance
from the skull
• Modelling clay is laid on to the unknown skull in layers corresponding to
these standard thicknesses, then more imaginative modelling added to
‘humanize’ the basic shape. The obvious defects in this technique are the
lack of knowledge about eyes, lips, nose, ears and head hair, all of which
contribute greatly to individual characteristics. Similar methods have been
used by graphic artists, rather than sculptors, who use their portraiture
talents to create a face on the two-dimensional base provided by the skull
profile, plus a knowledge of tissue thicknesses at many anatomical points.
• Considerable progress has been made by the use of computer graphic
techniques, both in drawing reconstituted heads and in gathering tissue
thickness data.
• Considerable progress has been made by the use of computer graphic
techniques, both in drawing reconstituted heads and in gathering
tissue thickness data.

• And the forensic pathologist should be aware that such methods exist
and are increasing in availability and accuracy.

• The accuracy of this technique is not known and for this reason it
should never be used as an identification method.
Personal identity from skeletal material
• After the general groups of race, sex, stature and age have been
investigated (to construct what is generally called the biological
profile in order to cross-match data referring to an unidentified
decedent with missing persons), the bones must be examined for any
idiosyncratic features that give them a personal identity when a
suspicion of identity arises.
• Individual characteristics may be of two main types:

1. Anatomical shapes that can be matched by radiology, measurement

or other means. Exampleswould be frontal sinus comparison,
craniometry and radiological bone architecture.

2. Discrete abnormalities such as healing fractures, metal prostheses,

bone disease or congenital defects. Some artefacts, such as drill holes or
wire, may immediately indicate that the bone is an anatomical specimen.
Frontal sinus and postcranial identification
• It is particularly useful in mutilated or burnt bodies, such as those
from mass disasters like air crashes.
• As first pointed out by Poole in 1931 – no two persons (not even
identical twins) have the same profile of these air spaces.
• For the sinuses to be used, an ante-mortem anteroposterior skull
radiograph must be available, the most common source being from a
previous hospital admission or examination, usually for a head injury.
Personal identification by
radiographic superimposition
of the frontal sinuses.
• Identification of a skeletalized body was achieved by matching this callus
from a previous ulnar fracture, with the medical notes and radiographs
obtained from a hospital. The shape and size of the callus, was identical to
follow-up films taken during life.
Photosuperimposition techniques for
identification
• Where potential candidate(s) for the identity of a skull are known to
the investigating authority and photographs taken during life are
available, a wellestablished technique used for identification is
‘photosuperimposition’. In this method, photographs of the skull are
taken in exactly the same orientation in three planes as the available
photograph.
• some individualistic feature, such as a distinct dental character, is
apparent. A similar procedure in fact can be applied to dental profiles if
the ante-mortem picture of the missing person shows him or her
smiling. In such cases the identification potential is much greater
because the method compares the same structures, i.e. teeth.
 • One of the issues in identity, as
well as in estimating the time since
death, is the date (as opposed to
The dating of the age) of human bones. A
knowledge of the time of death,
skeletal measured in years, decades or
remains even centuries, can assist the
investigating authorities
considerably.