In this study, researchers attempt to improve the accuracy of skeletal trauma analysis in forensic anthropology.
This research project aimed to scientifically validate the relationship between long bone fracture characteristics and injury mechanisms in order to provide forensic anthropologists a better understanding of biological variability and its impact on fracture mechanics, as well as offer statistically substantiated results to strengthen expert testimony. Researchers quantified the differential effects of intrinsic and extrinsic variables on fracture characteristics, thereby establishing a blunt force trauma fracture classification system for long bones with empirically defined mechanistic links. Data from this research will be organized into a publicly available Forensic Anthropology Skeletal Trauma (FAST) database, with the purpose of providing objective training resources for scholars and professionals to standardize trauma interpretations within and across disciplines. The ability for students and professionals, at all stages in their career, to be exposed to skeletal trauma with known parameters has the potential to be transformative for the field. Current analyses of skeletal trauma are largely dependent on descriptive methods with little or no interpretation. Such practice lacks any link from observed fracture patterns to validated, experimental skeletal trauma research identifying fracture mechanisms. This baseline for interpreting skeletal trauma and providing scientific testimony cannot satisfy Daubert guidelines. This study aims to fill the identified gap in the current knowledge and methods of skeletal trauma research, analysis, and interpretation by providing controlled experimental bone trauma data focused on fracture mechanics to improve the validity of skeletal trauma analysis and interpretation through precise, accurate, and repeatable analytical methods.