Osteological Collections

La determinación del sexo es un elemento fundamental para definir el perfil biológico de un cuerpo sin identidad conocida. Por lo tanto, es uno de los principales temas de interés en las ciencias forenses en general, ya que las pericias judiciales requieren de la máxima precisión para lograr una identificación positiva. Hay una gran variedad de métodos de determinación sexual en restos óseos. Sin embargo, estos solo son aplicables con altos grados de confiabilidad en las poblaciones para las que fueron generados.
Consecuentemente, resulta necesario que estos sean probados en restos óseos pertenecientes a la población local, con la finalidad de conocer su eficacia y el margen de error de la investigación. El objetivo de este trabajo es evaluar el grado de acierto en la determinación sexual de una serie de variables cualitativas clásicas compiladas para el cráneo en una población moderna mendocina. La muestra utilizada
corresponde a 80 individuos de la Osteoteca Humana para la Investigación Arqueológica y Forense de Mendoza (FFyL, UNCuyo). Los resultados demostraron que los métodos superaron los niveles de confianza requeridos (más del 80%), el Método 1 obtuvo el 84% y el Método 2 el 80,26%. Esto los hace aplicables a las pericias antropológicas forenses.

Background: Analysis of skeleton is necessary for sex determination. There are several pieces of bone that are used such as pelvic bone and zygomatic arch etc. In the fieldwork of physical anthropologist and forensic physician, the skull or some pieces of the skull can be very useful. In the skull, the mastoid process is a compact and permanent process. Craniometric measurements of mastoid process are interesting parameters to distinguish sex. Objective: To study the craniometric measurements of mastoid process of dry skulls in Thais and provide a method for sex determination. Material and method: One hundred normal skulls of Thais from the central region, 60 male and 40 female, were studied. The measurement of mastoid process between the three points, porion (po), mastoidale (ma), and asterion (as) were made. The three distances (po-ma, ma-as, po-as) were recorded (mm) and the mastoid triangular areas were calculated by using Heron's formula (mm2). The student's t-test and linear discriminant analysis were used for data analysis. Results: The means of mastoid dimensions and mastoid triangular area in male are significantly larger than those of the female (p < or = 0.01). The linear discriminant analysis shows that using the mastoid process dimensions and mastoid triangular area for determining sex in Thais are convincing. The average accuracy is 67.00 to 76.90%. The better mastoid dimension is ma-as of the right mastoid process. It shows a high average accuracy at 76.90%. Conclusion: Means of the mastoid dimensions and mastoid triangular area of Thai skulls (whole skull or fragments) provide an accurate method for determining sex.

This interdisciplinary research is focused on the multiethnic character of the population buried in the neighborhood center of Teopancazco in Teotihuacan. It involves the formal burials as well as the human bones and teeth found in different sectors. The results of the osteological analyses, the ancient DNA, the dental health of the populations, and the facial approximation of some of these individuals.

The scientific divulgation work is increasingly like a facilitator task. In fact, in this work it is primary to transform the results and the notions of scientific research so that they became accessible to the public, understood as the largest possible number of people. However, this information flow turns out to be purely verbal, moreover with a language rich of visual references, that are inaccessible and incomprehensible for the user with sensory disabilities. Wehavethusestablished a convention between the “Istituto dei Ciechi Opere riunite I. Florio – F. ed A. Salamone” of Palermo and the “Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche - Istituto per lo studio degli impatti Antropici e Sostenibilita in ambiente marino” of Capo Granitola (TP). Wedeveloped a formative proposal that links the science world with sensory disabilities, proposing Birds as principal argument and the whole world connected to it. The birds appear as the key to connect to different scientific issues (pollution, envir...

Blind people, though not seeing the world, is nevertheless able to imagine it, activating mental processes different from those of the sighted. They can come in contact with the reality of the world and know it with appreciable effectiveness (Angeli F., 2012). It has been imagined that only the view was the capable sense of allowing the conception of space and its forms. Of course, it was the facts that showed, with increasing clarity, that the lack of sight does not prevent the mental construction of space. Although touch is generally regarded as the sight of the blind, it is important to understand how sight cannot be validly replaced by a single sense. To organize a good relationship with the surrounding reality, the person who does not see needs to activate the whole of their residual senses. In particular, the complementarity between touch and hearing makes us understand like the blind. The touch sense has a very small perceptive field and therefore proceeds bysuccession of spa...

There is a burgeoning body of evidence suggesting that technology can enhance learning, and multiple studies have shown that videos represent a very effective tool in science engagement and education. In fact, video media can transform the complexities of science and nature into something more tangible and tractable (Dabylchuk et al., 2018). Documentaries can hence be powerful tools for learning, to raise awareness for important topics, and adding a scientific approach makes it possible to deepen knowledge about the world. According to Dale’s cone of experience (Fig. 1), people memorize 10% of what they read, 20% of what they hear, 30% of what they see and 50% of what they hear and see (Wiman and Mierhenry, 1969). These statistics seems to convey a very clear message: blind or visually impaired people are penalised in the learning compared to sighted ones. However, our experience in the area of inclusive science communication has led us to wonder: are we sure that sight is a fundame...

L’attivita di divulgazione della cultura scientifica ha un ruolo fondamentale sulla societa, sia in termini di applicazioni innovative che di pianificazione dell’ambiente. I ricercatori dell’IAS-CNR di Capo Granitola operano da anni nell’ambito della diffusione della cultura scientifica, attraverso processi complessi e percorsi di divulgazione in partnership con istituti scolastici del territorio, realizzando attivita seminariali, convegni direttamente nelle scuole, nonche visite didattiche guidate degli alunni nei laboratori dell’Istituto ed esperimenti interdisciplinari sull’ambiente marino. Tali processi divulgativi si sono sviluppati creando numerosi percorsi, in maniera per certi aspetti analoga a quella per cui dalla mescolanza dei tre colori fondamentali si e in grado di ottenere un numero pressoche illimitato di tinte diverse. Lo scopo di questa “mescolanza” e stato quello di ottenere un ventaglio di competenze e strumentazioni che consentissero di indagare i differenti aspe...

Searching a topic that help us about the implementation of an inclusive divulgation, aimed also at sensory disabilitiesusers, we have chosen birds as a key to connect different scientific issues (pollution, environmental changes, exploitation of resources) and create new knowledge in a heterogeneous auditorium, through the suggestions that the workshop lessons can infuse on the users, whether they are disabled or not. All this to bring them closer to thescientific contents to which they do not have easy access. In particular, the project aims to develop, deepen and consolidate, through communication and information, issues concerning the concept of biodiversity, in order to sensitize users to safeguard the species and habitats of our territory and make them as the main actors of scientific dissemination.Indeed, weestabilisheda convention between the “Istituto dei Ciechi Opere riunite I. Florio – F. ed A. Salamone” of Palermo and the “Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche - Istituto per...

Resumen Uno de los principales criterios para la estimación del sexo a partir restos óseos recuperados en contextos arqueológicos y/o forenses, es el análisis morfométrico a través de las funciones discriminantes. Estas han sido elaboradas para poblaciones norteamericanas y europeas, por lo que ofrecen un valor relativo en el porcentaje de asignación correcta si son aplicadas en otras poblaciones. El objetivo de este trabajo consiste en testear las funciones discriminantes propuesta por Giles (1964) en una muestra local documentada. Para ello se seleccionaron 43 mandíbulas de ambos sexos provenientes de la colección osteológica Prof. Dr. Rómulo Lambre, alojada en la Facultad de Ciencias Médicas de la UNLP. Se relevaron nueve medidas propuestas por el autor mediante técnicas de la morfometría tradicional. Posteriormente, se aplicaron tres funciones discriminantes desarrolladas a partir de una muestra de la colección Terry. El sexo estimado a través de las funciones fue contrastado con los datos documentados con el fin de establecer la validación de las mismas. Los resultados obtenidos tras la aplicación de las tres funciones discriminantes demuestran un alto porcentaje de asignaciones correctas para el sexo femenino, promediando un 94.4 %, por el contrario los guarismos obtenidos para el sexo masculino disminuyen notablemente a un 16.1 % de asignaciones correctas. Es decir, que los individuos masculinos fueron clasificados erróneamente en un 83.9%. En función de los resultados obtenidos creemos que la función propuesta por Giles no es válida para la población en estudio. Por lo que el desarrollo de una función discriminante específica para nuestra muestra nos permitiría realizar estimaciones más ajustadas.

Blind people, though not seeing the world, is nevertheless able to imagine it, activating mental processes different from those of the sighted. They can come in contact with the reality of the world and know it with appreciable effectiveness (Angeli F., 2012). It has been imagined that only the view was the capable sense of allowing the conception of space and its forms. Of course, it was the facts that showed, with increasing clarity, that the lack of sight does not prevent the mental construction of space. Although touch is generally regarded as the sight of the blind, it is important to understand how sight cannot be validly replaced by a single sense. To organize a good relationship with the surrounding reality, the person who does not see needs to activate the whole of their residual senses. In particular, the complementarity between touch and hearing makes us understand like the blind. The touch sense has a very small perceptive field and therefore proceeds bysuccession of spa...

L’attivita di divulgazione della cultura scientifica ha un ruolo fondamentale sulla societa, sia in termini di applicazioni innovative che di pianificazione dell’ambiente. I ricercatori dell’IAS-CNR di Capo Granitola operano da anni nell’ambito della diffusione della cultura scientifica, attraverso processi complessi e percorsi di divulgazione in partnership con istituti scolastici del territorio, realizzando attivita seminariali, convegni direttamente nelle scuole, nonche visite didattiche guidate degli alunni nei laboratori dell’Istituto ed esperimenti interdisciplinari sull’ambiente marino. Tali processi divulgativi si sono sviluppati creando numerosi percorsi, in maniera per certi aspetti analoga a quella per cui dalla mescolanza dei tre colori fondamentali si e in grado di ottenere un numero pressoche illimitato di tinte diverse. Lo scopo di questa “mescolanza” e stato quello di ottenere un ventaglio di competenze e strumentazioni che consentissero di indagare i differenti aspe...

(FR) La collection de crânes humains hébergée dans l'ostéothèque du Laboratoire d'Anthropologie et de Génétique humaine, située au sein de la Faculté des Sciences de l'Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB) est dépourvue de contexte historique sur sa création. Parmi les vestiges humains composant cette collection, certains sont accompagnés d'informations telles que des étiquettes de socle illisibles ou des annotations sur les crânes, indiquant des provenances belges ou extra-européennes, et spécifiquement le Congo. Cette situation soulève la problématique de comprendre comment et pourquoi ces restes humains rassemblés au moment de l’époque coloniale belge se retrouvent aujourd'hui à l'université, ainsi que leur devenir. Ce travail établit un inventaire précis de l'ostéothèque de l'ULB et replace sa création dans son contexte d'origine. En parallèle du recensement, l’environnement scientifique et historique dans lesquels s'inscrivent les collections de la Société d'Anthropologie de Bruxelles sont abordés. Au total, 261 crânes humains ont été inventoriés au sein de l'ostéothèque. Dans le but d'affiner leur identification, une sélection arbitraire de 14 spécimens a fait l'objet d'une analyse bioanthropologique approfondie. Cette étude a permis de réaliser une diagnose sexuelle, une estimation de l'âge au moment du décès, ainsi qu'une détermination de l'origine géographique en se basant sur l'appartenance de l'individu à des groupes biogéographiques spécifiques. Les méthodes sélectionnées sont traditionnellement employées en bioanthropologie. À cela a été ajoutée une approche médico-légale grâce à la consultation d'experts. Les résultats soulignent la nécessité d'affiner les méthodes d'identi-fication de l'origine biogéographique en recourant à des analyses isotopiques ou génétiques. Cette étude vise à générer une base de données factuelle, sur laquelle pourront s'appuyer des réflexions futures concernant l'éthique de la conservation des restes humains extra-européens, ainsi que la question du rapatriement de ces individus dans leur pays d'origine ou au sein de leur communauté.


(EN) The collection of unidentified human skulls at ULB: contextual research and bioanthropological analysis.The collection of human skulls housed in the Laboratoire d'Anthropologie et de Génétique humaine, located within the Faculty of Sciences of the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), lacks any historical context regarding its creation. Some of the human remains are accompanied by information such as illegible base labels or annotations on the vaults, indicating Belgian or non-European origins, and specifically from Congo. This situation raises the question of how and why these human remains, collected during the Belgian colonial era, are now to be found at the university, and what is to become of them. This work establishes a precise inventory of the ULB collection and places its creation in its original context. Alongside the inventory, the scientific and historical context of the collections of the Société d'Anthropologie de Bruxelles was studied. A total of 261 human skulls were inventoried. In order to refine their identification, an arbitrary selection of 14 specimens was subjected to in-depth bioanthropological analysis. This study made it possible to carry out a sexual diagnosis, estimate the age at the time of death, and determine the geographical origin on the basis of the individual's membership of specific biogeographical groups. The selected methods are traditionally used in bioanthropology. A forensic approach was added by consulting experts. The results highlight the need to refine the meth-ods used to identify biogeographical origin, by providing isotopic or genetic analyses. This study has generated a factual database on which to base essential reflections on the ethics of conserving non-European human remains, as well as the question of repatriating these individuals to their country of origin or to their community.

Searching a topic that help us about the implementation of an inclusive divulgation, aimed also at sensory disabilitiesusers, we have chosen birds as a key to connect different scientific issues (pollution, environmental changes, exploitation of resources) and create new knowledge in a heterogeneous auditorium, through the suggestions that the workshop lessons can infuse on the users, whether they are disabled or not. All this to bring them closer to thescientific contents to which they do not have easy access. In particular, the project aims to develop, deepen and consolidate, through communication and information, issues concerning the concept of biodiversity, in order to sensitize users to safeguard the species and habitats of our territory and make them as the main actors of scientific dissemination.Indeed, weestabilisheda convention between the “Istituto dei Ciechi Opere riunite I. Florio – F. ed A. Salamone” of Palermo and the “Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche - Istituto per...

In 2021, the Museum of Zoology “P. Doderlein” of the University of Palermo acquired a new specimen, the complete skeleton of Stenella coeruleoalba, a striped dolphin stranded in 2018 in Marinella di Selinunte, Castelvetrano (Sicily, Southern Italy). The project herein described is the result of a collaboration among the Bio-Reconstruction Laboratory of the IAS-CNR of Capo Granitola, the IZS of Palermo, the company Naturaliter and the Museum of Zoology “P. Doderlein”. In Natural History Museums, cetaceans are an excellent tool to facilitate scientific dissemination aimed at the conservation of marine biodiversity. The work herein described is presented as an example of good practices in recovering a cetacean carcass that can otherwise be an expensive waste to manage.

Studies on human skeletal remains for sex determination have been a topic of interest among researchers. Osteometric studies using individual bones exhibiting sexual dimorphism has been reported among different populations. The pelvis and skull bones are widely used reporting almost 100% accuracy 2-3 followed by other bones such as femur 4 , humerus 5 etc. Dimorphism in skulls is based on its size and robustness. The male crania have well developed supraorbital ridges, broader palates, thicker zygomatic and larger mastoid process than those of females. Skull bones such as mastoid, hard palate, craniofacial parts 8 have been analyzed for sex determination. A study by Demoulin 9 reported dimorphic traits in mastoid process. It is a bone less prone to damage due to its safe anatomical position. 9 Mastoid region is one of the slowest and late growing regions of cranium 10 and such regions show higher degree of sexual dimorphism in adulthood. The differences in size of the mastoid process between sexes could be attributed to the variable growth duration in males IJBR (2013) 04 (02) www.ssjournals.com

Determining the sex of human skeletal remains, using the skull is important to the disciplines of human osteology, forensic anthropology, paleopathology and paleodemography as compared to other bones in the body namely the human pelvis and long bones. The skull offers a high resistance to adverse environmental conditions over time, resulting in the greater stability of the dimorphic features as compared to other skeletal bone pieces. Moreover, some authors have highlighted the importance of the petrous portion of the temporal bone and its general preservation in cases of extreme unfavourable conditions. The purpose of this study was to determine the existence of sexual dimorphism in the dimensions and the area of mastoid triangle related to the 3 craniometeric points: porion, asterion and mastoidale. A total of 100 skulls, 50 male and 50 female were analyzed. On each skull the 3 craniometeric points were marked on each side. The area (mm2) for each side of the skull right (D) and le...

— The major objectives of this paper are (1) address the factors influencing sexing the human skull through a review of the literature (2) list the general techniques and methods used for sex determination (3) address the mastoid process method in determining sex (4) address the relevance of this information to computational forensic science research and applications. This paper is a summary of findings of Mastoid process sex determination that will give the knowledge that how far skull biometric is useful in determination of sex for unique identification and verification of human. From the available literature in this topic, analysis was done and most relevant accurate method for sex determination was identified. The existing techniques in sex determination are comprehensively reviewed and discussed. Validation of mastoid process approach is done with Matlab (2007) and sex determination was performed with sample database. Experimental results show the effectiveness of this approach...

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the significance for sex determination of the measurement of the area formed by the xerographic projection of 3 craniometric points related to the mastoid process: the porion, asterion, and mastoidale points. Sixty skulls, 30 male and 30 female, were analyzed. A xerographic copy of each side of the skull was obtained. On each xerographic copy, the craniometric points were marked to demarcate a triangle. The area (mm ) of the demarcated triangle for each side of the skull (right (D) and left (E) sides) was determined, and the total value of these measures (T) was calculated. Concerning the right area of the male and female skulls, 60% of the values overlapped; for the left area, 51.67% overlapped, and for the total area, 36.67% overlapped. The analysis of the differences between the sexes in the areas studied was significant for the 3 areas. Regarding the total area, which is the preferred measurement because of the asymmetry between the side...

The mastoid process characteristics are of great utility in the diagnosis of sex. De Paiva & Segre (2003) described that sex diagnosis was possible based on the determination of the area of the triangle formed by the points porion, mastoidale, and asterion. The purpose of this study was to determine the existence of sexual dimorphism in the dimensions and the area of the mastoid triangle using statistical and discriminant function analysis. A total of 81 skulls of Brazilian individuals that were part of the Museum of the Federal University of Sao Paulo (UNIFESP) collection were used, with sex and ages known: 50 men and 31 women between 40 and 70 years of age (mean 51.58 years, SD 7.319). Most of the lineal dimensions and the calculated areas were higher in men than in women. Only the distance porion-mastoidale, the area of the right mastoid triangle and the total area, was higher and more significant in men with p < 0.01. The analysis of the discriminant function showed that the group of analyzed lineal dimensions presents a low discriminant capacity (Lambda of Wilks = 0.960, Canonical Correlation = 0.199); only porion-mastoidale allowed one to distinguish men's groups from women with a general accuracy of 64.2%, but with a high sensibility to classify men (93%) and a very low sensibility for women (17.7%). These results indicate that the determination of sex based on the dimensions of the mastoid triangle leads to underestimate the women, hence being of less utility in practice.

La determinación del sexo es un elemento fundamental para definir el perfil biológico en restos óseos humanos no identificados procedentes de contextos forenses. Por lo tanto, es uno de los principales temas de interés en antropología forense y en las ciencias forenses en general, ya que se requiere de información precisa para lograr una identificación positiva. Consecuentemente, resulta necesario que los métodos empleados para la determinación del sexo sean validados en poblaciones locales contemporáneas para evaluar su eficacia y así reducir el margen de error.
En este proyecto se propone evaluar la validez de dos métodos para la determinación del sexo en la región temporal del cráneo: 1) a partir de un método morfognóstico en la apófisis cigomática y la cresta supramastoidea y 2) un análisis morfométrico, en el proceso mastoideo. Asimismo, se considerarán de manera complementaria otros 17 indicadores de sexo del cráneo clásicos. Estos análisis se llevarán a cabo en cráneos de la Osteoteca Humana para la Investigación Arqueológica y Forense de Mendoza (FFyL, UNCuyo). De esta manera se pretende contribuir al conocimiento del dimorfismo sexual en la población local, y así obtener métodos de determinación sexual validados para las pericias judiciales del Centro Oeste argentino.