NCJ Number
196027
Journal
Canadian Society of Forensic Science Journal Volume: 35 Issue: 2 Dated: June 2002 Pages: 49-56
Date Published
June 2002
Length
8 pages
Annotation
This study examined how heat-induced changes in the hard tissues of the body influence the results of anthropological methods of analysis in assessing the sex of cremated bodies.
Abstract
The identification of cremated bodies is problematic due to the effect of burning on the tissues of the body. Since hard tissues are altered by burning, it is likely that identification techniques that rely on these tissues will also be affected. To test whether this is the case, this study burned 12 sheep Os coxae in a fire-brick furnace. Eight measurements were taken from the sheep Os coxae before and after burning. Heat-induced shrinkage was calculated as a percentage. The significance of the differences between the measurements taken before and after burning was assessed statistically (Wilcoxon Signed Rank). The alternative hypothesis, that the difference was significant, was confirmed. The influence of heat-induced shrinkage on sex-assessment techniques was examined algebraically and then demonstrated with metric methods of sex assessment. The study found that uniform shrinkage of the pelvis did not affect metric sex determination techniques; however, the differential shrinkage of the variables that comprise the metric sex-assessment can result in the misclassification of male cremated pelvises as female, and vice versa. Further research should focus on a greater variety of sex-assessment techniques and other methods of identification, such as estimating age at death and stature. New methods of identifying cremated remains may also need to be developed. 4 tables and 16 references