Search

This article presents the results of the first excavations at the site of ancient Eleon in eastern Boeotia, Greece. Fieldwork focused on the elevated limestone ridge on the western edge of the vill...

In 2012, Texas surpassed Arizona in migrant deaths. The majority of deaths occurred in the Rio Grande Valley, specifically in Brooks County, Texas. Brooks County is one of the poorest in the state and was overwhelmed with deaths, without appropriate resources to follow the state laws pertaining to the investigation of unidentified human remains. Until 2013, most remains that were not immediately identified were buried without collecting DNA samples and the location of burials was not recorded. Our paper outlines the difficulties searching for these burials, the struggles of the families of the missing, and the collaborative approaches to facilitating identifications in South Texas. Community outreach combined with geophysical surveys guide which cemeteries are in need of exhumations. Once cemeteries are surveyed, archaeological methods are employed to exhume remains and document burials. Remains are taken to the Forensic Anthropology Center at Texas State for processing, analysis, and identification efforts. Undergraduate and graduate students clean remains and wash clothing and personal effects. After skeletal analysis, all information regarding the remains, including photographs of personal effects, are uploaded to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) and a DNA sample is submitted to the University of North Texas for inclusion in the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) DNA database. However, CODIS lacks DNA family reference samples from many families of the missing due to families living outside the US or because they do not feel comfortable providing a DNA sample in the presence of law enforcement. Therefore, it is necessary to work with non-governmental organizations who specialize in collecting missing persons reports and DNA samples from the families of the missing. Working collaboratively with multiple agencies, identification of migrant remains is possible.

Dental development is one of the most widely utilized and accurate methods available for estimating age in subadult skeletal remains. The timing of tooth growth and development is regulated by genetics and less affected by external factors, allowing reliable estimates of chronological age. Traditional methodology focuses on comparing tooth developmental scores to corresponding age charts. Using the Moorrees, Fanning, and Hunt (MFH) developmental scores, Shackelford and colleagues embed the dental development method in a statistical framework based on transition analysis. They generated numerical parameters underlining each "stage" and age-at-death distribution and applied them to fossil hominins and Neanderthals with limited application to modern humans. We use this same method on a subadult test sample (n = 201), representing modern individuals that may become part of the forensic record. We assess the probability coverage of the Shackelford et al. method derived from MFH standards as it applies to all available dentition. Results indicate promise: the age range at 90% and 95% confidence levels includes the chronological age of almost every individual tested. The maximum likelihood age estimates underestimate age by 0.5-2.5 years for individuals 0-15 years of age and by2.5 years for individuals 16-18 years of age, as previously shown. In an attempt to refine the method, we adjusted the numerical parameters underlying the stages for developing teeth based on a combined modern reference sample (n = 1,964) and tested these revised parameters using the same test sample. The estimated ages from the modified method differ from the original Shackelford et al. methodology by underestimating age to a lesser degree. The modified method does include mean age-at-attainment values for earlier stages of several teeth, allowing for the calculation of narrower confidence intervals. While this study highlights areas of future research in refining dental developmental aging by transition analysis, it also demonstrates that the Shackelford et al. method is applicable and accurate when aging modern subadults in forensic work.

Objectives. The current study seeks to determine if a sample of foragers, farmers, and pastoralists can be distinguished by their dental microwear texture signatures. Materials and Methods. The study included a sample of 719 individuals from 51 archaeological sites (450 farmers, 192 foragers, 77 pastoralists). All were over age 12 and sexes were pooled. Using a Sensofar® white-light confocal profiler we collected dental microwear texture analysis (DMTA) data from a single first or second molar from each individual. We leveled and cleaned data clouds following standard procedures and analyzed the data with Sfrax® and Toothfrax® software. The DMTA variables were complexity and anisotropy. Statistics included ANOVA with partial eta squared and Hedges's g. We also performed a follow-up K-means cluster analysis. Results. We found significant differences between foragers and farmers and pastoralists for complexity and anisotropy, with foragers having greater complexity than either the farmers or the pastoralists. The farmers and pastoralists had greater anisotropy than the foragers. The Old World foragers had significantly higher anisotropy values than New World foragers. Old and New World farmers did not differ. Among the Old World farmers, those dating from the Neolithic through the Late Bronze Age had higher complexity values than those from the Iron Age through the medieval period. The cluster analysis discerned foragers and farmers but also indicated similarity between hard food foragers and hard food farmers. Discussion. Our findings reaffirm that DMTA is capable of distinguishing human diets. We found that foragers and farmers, in particular, differ in their microwear signatures across the globe. There are some exceptions, but nothing that would be unexpected given the range of human diets and food preparation techniques. This study indicates that in general DMTA is an efficacious means of paleodietary reconstruction in humans.

Dental development is one of the most widely utilized and accurate methods available for estimating age in subadult skeletal remains. The timing of tooth growth and development is regulated by genetics and less affected by external factors, allowing reliable estimates of chronological age. Traditional methodology focuses on comparing tooth developmental scores to corresponding age charts. Using the Moorrees, Fanning, and Hunt (MFH) developmental scores, Shackelford and colleagues embed the dental development method in a statistical framework based on transition analysis. They generated numerical parameters underlining each "stage" and age-at-death distribution and applied them to fossil hominins and Neanderthals with limited application to modern humans. We use this same method on a subadult test sample (n = 201), representing modern individuals that may become part of the forensic record. We assess the probability coverage of the Shackelford et al. method derived from MFH standards as it applies to all available dentition. Results indicate promise: the age range at 90% and 95% confidence levels includes the chronological age of almost every individual tested. The maximum likelihood age estimates underestimate age by 0.5-2.5 years for individuals 0-15 years of age and by >2.5 years for individuals 16-18 years of age, as previously shown. In an attempt to refine the method, we adjusted the numerical parameters underlying the stages for developing teeth based on a combined modern reference sample (n = 1,964) and tested these revised parameters using the same test sample. The estimated ages from the modified method differ from the original Shackelford et al. methodology by underestimating age to a lesser degree. The modified method does include mean age-at-attainment values for earlier stages of several teeth, allowing for the calculation of narrower confidence intervals. While this study highlights areas of future research in refining dental developmental aging by transition analysis, it also demonstrates that the Shackelford et al. method is applicable and accurate when aging modern subadults in forensic work.

Painted Bluff in northern Alabama is one of the richest and most elaborate open-air rock art localities in the Eastern Woodlands, rivaling some of the Southeast’s dark zone cave art sites discovered over the past several decades. Known for more than a century, the site has never seen detailed documentation until now. Painted Bluff contains motifs similar to iconography associated with Mississippian ceremonial objects, and a radiocarbon age determination (cal A.D. 1300–1440) would indicate contemporary use of the site. More than 80 images were painted on the cliffs, most using red mineral pigments but some reflecting polychromatic use of differently colored minerals. We present examples of the Painted Bluff artwork and discuss the site in the broader context of prehistoric rock art on the southern Cumberland Plateau and in northern Alabama.

Systematic field exploration in Tennessee has located a wealth of new rock art—some deep in caves, some in the open air. The authors show that these have a different repertoire and use of colour, and a different distribution in the landscape—the open sites up high and the caves down low. The landscape has been reorganised on cosmological terms by the pre-Columbian societies. This research offers an exemplary rationale for reading rock art beyond the image and the site.

Isoscape refinement is an essential component for accurately predicting region-of-origin in forensic investigations involving isotope analysis of unidentified human remains. Stable oxygen (δ18O) and hydrogen (δ2H) isotopes were measured from 57 tap water samples collected across Mississippi to model refined isoscapes for the state. A tap water conversion equation, δ18Otw=1.64 δ18Op−31.35, was developed for the southeastern USA to test the prediction accuracy of the δ18Otw isoscape using individuals with known residential histories. A local Mississippi resident (USAFA-134) was assigned with 90% probability to the correct region-of-origin reported by the participant. Assignments for Georgia residents (USAFA-118 and USAFA-205) had variable results, predicting USAFA-118 from Mississippi and USAFA-205 as a nonlocal resident. Stable isotope values often overlap geographically and a multi-isotope approach should be used when narrowing region(s)-of-origin(s). This study demonstrates the utility of refining isoscapes and the importance of tissue calibration in prediction assignments of human remains.

This research presents a new software, "Fragmento", for accurate analyses of fragmentary human skeletal remains and facilitation of three-dimensional (3D) fragmentary matching and full bone reconstruction. The framework utilizes the power of statistical bone atlases to create 3D templates for bone matching and to interpolate missing anatomy for full bone reconstruction. Developed tool has enhanced features allowing the user to visualize, review and scale all scanned skeletal remains within a 3D statistical template, merging accepted registered elements to provide a fully reconstructed bone. A three stage validation was performed on Fragmento: Stages I and II used simulated fragmentary data which was compared to full bones with an error less than 3mm; Stage III compared output from geographic information system (GIS) software with comparable results. This validation process demonstrates the robustness and utility of Fragmento as tool for 3D fragmentary bone matching and full bone reconstruction.

The estimation of ancestry in historic skeletal samples and forensic cases from the United States is complicated by diverse population histories of communities. Reference datasets are often temporally varied and geographically limited. Researchers have recognized these limitations and have focused on expanding reference databases to improve assessments for modern forensic casework and historical bioarchaeology. Using dental metrics, dental morphological traits, cranial morphoscopic traits, and recently developed analytical methods, we assess ancestry for a series of 57 individuals from the Mississippi State Asylum Cemetery. Posterior probabilities are generally consistent across the available indicators for American Black and White reference samples and support overall classifications based on average posterior probabilities. However, indicators from several individuals result in disparate posteriors probabilities. These issues are explored through the use of multiple reference samples for assessments including Harris' dental metrics from 20th century Memphis patients and Hanihara's worldwide dental metrics database.

The study of bone colour, a component of a larger GIS-based examination of the prehistoric Walker-Noe collection, aids in the reconstruction and interpretation of the burial deposit. Understanding the colour variation in controlled experiments and from forensic and archaeological samples is critical to burned bone studies. The use of the CIELAB colour coordinate system enables measurement of differences in overall colours and, additionally, a comparative assessment of the individual axis values. A slight variation is observable in bone surface colour between the core and peripheral regions of the site. Differences in surface colour can be recognised between elements from different skeletal divisions, collectively across the site and also between areas of the site. The interpretation of surface colour data for bone fragments recovered from Walker-Noe provides additional insight into site formation processes at the Middle Woodland period crematory. The approach detailed in this study can readily be applied to other archaeological and forensic investigations to address differential burning, site formation issues and taphonomic factors.

Indian Knoll is the largest Archaic shell midden excavated by WPA archaeologists in Kentucky. Situated in a large alluvial valley, the site is not associated with a known river shoal as might be expected, making its fluvial and geomorphic setting of interest. Based on sediment cores and auger samples, undisturbed portions of the site remain despite extensive excavations. In undisturbed portions, a shell-bearing layer is overlain by a shell-free midden layer. Profiles of organic matter and calcium carbonate content for both layers are similar to those of other Green River shell middens. New radiocarbon determinations date the shell deposit at 5590–4530 cal yr B.P. Analysis of mussel species collected from the Indian Knoll indicates that shell fishing took place in a swiftly flowing, shallow to moderately deep setting of the main river channel. Overall, the prehistoric river setting adjacent to Indian Knoll was characterized by deeper water on average with variable but finer-grained substrate compared to other Green River shell midden sites. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The present study examines the commingled, burned human remains from the Walker–Noe site (15Gd56) in Garrard County, Kentucky. The site is a small, early Middle Woodland Adena crematory located on the southern periphery of the Bluegrass physiographic region of the state. Extreme fragmentation of the remains precludes the use of a simple elemental coding system to generate a skeletal inventory. Osteological coding systems like Standards or Osteoware would be ineffective in capturing the fragment diversity and anatomical positions of the cranial and postcranial fragments. This chapter details the application of two quantification methods adapted to document the Walker–Noe cremated remains. One approach is based on bone landmarks (Landmark Analysis), whereas the other employs the analysis of fragment shapes within a geographic information system (GIS Analysis). These two approaches to address commingling issues have roots in zooarchaeological analytical techniques. The Landmark approach is a logical extension of White’s MNI estimation in which the most abundant element is determined using the most frequent landmark. The GIS approach was originally developed by zooarchaeological researchers to provide both a minimum number of elements and minimum number of individuals estimate. The two methods presented in this study have applications for both bioarchaeology and forensic anthropology. The physical anthropologist needs tools to accurately quantify the number of elements and individuals recovered from a commingled context, whether prehistoric, historic, or forensic.

Documenting the distribution of fragmentary human remains from an archaeological context is critical to understanding mortuary patterns and site formation processes. The Walker-Noe site (15Gd56), a Middle Woodland crematory in the southern Kentucky bluegrass, offers a unique opportunity to examine a highly fragmentary and cremated human burial sample. Using osteological data from each excavation unit including traditional bone weight, color values assessed with a spectrophotometer, and minimum number of elements (MNE)/minimum number of individuals (MNI) estimates based on landmark counts and summary GIS grids, the spatial pattern of human remains across the crematory is examined. The observed patterns are key to understanding the site formation processes and the mortuary practices at Walker-Noe.

Estimation of living stature has obvious utility in the identification process. Typically, anthropologists estimate stature from the measurement of long bone length. This type of analysis is traditionally conducted on skeletonized or badly decomposed remains, so collection of the necessary bone measurements is relatively simple. As the role of anthropologists expands into medical examiner offices and mass fatality incidents, the analysis of fleshed bodies and body parts is a more common scenario. For stature estimation in these types of cases (e.g., analysis of body portions recovered from an aircraft crash site or from intentional dismemberment), the presence of soft tissue on the human remains would usually necessitate dissection to expose skeletal elements to derive metric data for stature estimation. In order to circumvent this step, this paper provides various formulae that allow for standard anthropometric (i.e., soft tissue) measurements to be used in place of skeletal measurements. Data were compiled from several anthropometric studies (National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey [NHANES] and U.S. Army Anthropometric Survey [ANSUR]) and numerous regression models are presented. Results are compared between skeletal measurements and the anthropometric measurements from each study. It was found that the ANSUR models are similar to the skeletal models, while the NHANES models exhibit weaker correlation coefficients and higher standard errors. Overall, this study finds that stature estimates derived from anthropometric data provide good results and remove the necessity for dissection when working with fleshed body portions.

A great deal has previously been written about the use of skeletal morphological changes in estimating ages-at-death. This article looks in particular at the pubic symphysis, as it was historically one of the first regions to be described in the literature on age estimation. Despite the lengthy history, the value of the pubic symphysis in estimating ages and in providing evidence for putative identifications remains unclear. This lack of clarity primarily stems from the fact that rather ad hoc statistical methods have been applied in previous studies. This article presents a statistical analysis of a large data set (n = 1766) of pubic symphyseal scores from multiple contexts, including anatomical collections, war dead, and victims of genocide. The emphasis is in finding statistical methods that will have the correct "coverage.""Coverage" means that if a method has a stated coverage of 50%, then approximately 50% of the individuals in a particular pubic symphyseal stage should have ages that are between the stated age limits, and that approximately 25% should be below the bottom age limit and 25% above the top age limit. In a number of applications it is shown that if an appropriate prior age-at-death distribution is used, then "transition analysis" will provide accurate "coverages," while percentile methods, range methods, and means (+/-standard deviations) will not. Even in cases where there are significant differences in the mean ages-to-transition between populations, the effects on the stated age limits for particular "coverages" are minimal. As a consequence, more emphasis needs to be placed on collecting data on age changes in large samples, rather than focusing on the possibility of inter-population variation in rates of aging.

Publisher Summary The study of bone color, a component of a larger GIS-based examination of the prehistoric Walker-Noe collection, aids in the reconstruction and interpretation of the burial deposit. Understanding the color variation in controlled experiments and from forensic and archaeological samples is critical to burned bone studies. The use of the CIELAB color coordinate system enables measurement of differences in overall colors and additionally a comparative assessment of the individual axis values. A slight variation is observable in bone surface color between the core and peripheral regions of the site. Differences in surface color can be recognized between elements from different skeletal divisions, collectively across the site and also between areas of the site. The interpretation of surface color data for bone fragments recovered from Walker-Noe provides additional insight into site formation processes at the Middle Woodland period crematory. The approach detailed in this study can readily be applied to other archaeological and forensic investigations to address differential burning, site formation issues, and taphonomic factors.

Introduction In the early 1990s Konigsberg and Frankenberg wrote “A future direction that we expect to see in anthropological demography and paleodemography is the incorporation of uncertainty of age estimates into reduced parameterizations of life table functions. For example, hazards analysis, which reduces the mortality parameters to a small set, has recently been used in a number of anthropological demography studies” (Konigsberg and Frankenberg 1992:252). At the time we were writing we lacked the appropriate reference sample data for such an endeavor, as well as a number of the requisite statistical/computational tools. Today, neither of these issues is particularly problematical. Consequently, in this chapter we present some newer methods exploiting available reference sample data. The structure of this chapter is as follows. First, we discuss methods for modeling the dependence of an ordinal categorical variable on age. We then discuss the modeling of survivorship for archaeological human remains, and show how hazard model parameters can be estimated from an ordinal categorical variable using traditional maximization of the loglikelihood. We follow this presentation of methods with a brief example of estimating the parameters in a Gompertz–Makeham model using pubic symphyseal data and the method of maximum likelihood. We then turn to using a specific Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) method known as the Gibbs Sampler to show how more general problems in hazard model and age estimation can be attacked.