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Financial support has been provided by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation: Research Projects: CGL2010-15191/BOS, and CGL2006-04749/BOS (to RC) and by the Italian Ministero dell’Istruzione, dell’Universita` e della Ricerca: MIURPRIN 2007 (to AN)., Seventeen Y-chromosomal short tandem repeats (STRs) were analyzed in 347 healthy, unrelated, autochthonous males from the Andalusian provinces of Huelva (N=167) and Granada (N=180). AmpFlSTR Y-filer PCR Amplification kit (Applied Biosystems) was used to type the Y-STR markers. A total of 156 and 166 different haplotypes for the 17 Y-STR set were detected in Huelva, and Granada, respectively. The same haplotype diversity was found for both samples (0.998±0.001), and the overall discrimination capacity was 0.904. The most common minimal haplotype (DYS19, DYS389 I, DYS389 II, DYS390, DYS391, DYS392, DYS393) in both subpopulations was 14-13-16-24-11-13-13, which is also the most frequent haplotype among Atlantic European populations. Comparison analysis using pairwise R(ST) values and Analysis of Molecular Variance (AMOVA) revealed a significant genetic distance between our Andalusian samples and other ones from the northern Iberian fringe (including Basque and Pyrenean populations). However, results from the multi-dimensional scaling analysis (MDS) yielded a well-defined group of Iberian populations separated from the other Mediterranean clusters observed., Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Depto. de Biodiversidad, Ecología y Evolución, Fac. de Ciencias Biológicas, TRUE, pub

Genetic studies were financed by the Spanish Ministry of Government. This research is part of the project financed by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MICIMM) CSO2009-09681., The identification process of a mass grave from the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) is presented. The presumed location of the grave, as well as the presumed number and identities of the persons buried in the grave were obtained exclusively from witnesses’ and relatives’ testimonies. In agreement with the testimonies, the grave was located at the indicated location and five skeletons were exhumed. Also in agreement with the testimonies, the osteological and DNA study led investigators to propose the identification of two kin groups, a father and his son and a pair of brothers. But the genetic study did not support the identification of a fifth man presumed to have been buried in the grave. The differences and similarities between this case and another case reported earlier are discussed., Depto. de Biodiversidad, Ecología y Evolución, Fac. de Ciencias Biológicas, TRUE, pub

Genetic studies were financed by the Spanish Ministry of Government. This research is part of the project financed by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MICINN) CSO2009-09681., The identification process of human skeletal remains exhumed from a mass grave from the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) is presented. Information regarding the presumptive location of the grave and the presumptive number and identities of the persons buried in the grave was collected from interviews and written records from relatives and witnesses, as well as from research at the penitentiary archive. Antemortem individual data were collected from testimonies, and from research from penitentiary, army and civil archives. The consistency between data obtained from testimonies, archives, archeology and osteology allowed a targeted approach to DNA typing based on the assumption of the finding of a closed synchronic group. Two were the first genetic studies requested: the first study focused in the identification of a family group presumptively buried in the grave, compatible with a group of four skeletons that were associated on the basis of dental non-metric traits; the second study focused on the identification of the youngest person presumptively buried at the grave, compatible with the biologically youngest skeleton exhumed. A complete match between 16 Y-STR loci was observed for the four skeletons, as well as a match between mtDNA profiles of the biologically youngest skeleton and the sister of the youngest person presumptively known to be buried in the grave. These results, together with the accumulated evidence, led to propose the identification of these five persons. To date, identifications have been proposed for 17 out of 46 skeletons exhumed from the grave., Depto. de Biodiversidad, Ecología y Evolución, Fac. de Ciencias Biológicas, TRUE, pub

The degree of fusion at the anterior aspect of the sacral vertebrae has been scored in 242 male and female skeletons from the Lisbon documented collection, ranging from 16 to 59 years old in age. Statistical tests indicate a sex difference towards earlier fusion in young females compared with young males, as well as a clear association between degree of fusion and age. Similar results have been found by other authors in documented skeletal samples from Coimbra and Sassari, and the recommendations stated by these authors regarding age estimation have been positively tested in the Lisbon collection. Although more research from geographically diverse samples is required, a general picture of the pattern of sacral fusion and its associations with age and sex is emerging. We also provide a practical example of the usefulness of the sacrum for age estimation in a forensic setting, a mass grave from the Spanish Civil War. It is concluded that the scoring of the degree of fusion of the sacral vertebrae, specially of S1–2, can be a simple tool for assigning skeletons to broad age groups, and it should be implemented as another resource for age estimation in the study of human skeletal remains., Depto. de Biodiversidad, Ecología y Evolución, Fac. de Ciencias Biológicas, TRUE, pub

The absence of population-specific standards for sex, age and stature estimation for rural Guatemala is problematic for the forensic analysis of skeletal remains recovered from clandestine graves attributed to the recent armed conflict in that country. In order to increase the reliability of the forensic analyses being undertaken in Guatemala, standards for metric determination of sex were developed. Data was collected on several bones; the results for the humerus are presented here. A sample of 118 complete humeri (68 male and 50 female) was studied; maximum length, maximum diameter of the head, circumference at midshaft, maximum diameter at midshaft, minimum diameter at midshaft and epicondylar breadth were measured and subjected to discriminant function analysis. The classification accuracies for the univariate functions range from 76.8% for the maximum diameter at midshaft to 95.5% for the maximum diameter of the head. The classification accuracy for the stepwise procedure was 98.2%, Depto. de Biodiversidad, Ecología y Evolución, Fac. de Ciencias Biológicas, TRUE, pub