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The petrous bone contains significantly higher amounts of DNA than any other human bone. Because of highly destructive sampling and because it is not always part of the recovered remains, the need for alternative sources of DNA is important. To identify additional optimal bone types, petrous bones were compared to femurs, tali, and calcanei sampled from 66 adult skeletons from two distinct modern-era Christian cemeteries. An extraction method employing full demineralization was used to obtain DNA, real-time PCR quantification to ascertain DNA quantity and degradation, and a commercial forensic short tandem repeats (STR) PCR amplification kit to determine genetic profiles. Statistical analysis was performed to explore the differences in DNA yield, DNA degradation, and success of STR amplification. A systematic studies exploring intra-skeletal variability in DNA preservation including various excavation sites differing by time period and geographical position are rare, and the second part of the investigation was based on a comparison of both archaeological sites, which allowed us to compare the effect of different post-mortem intervals and environmental conditions on DNA preservation. The older burial site in Črnomelj was active between the 13th and 18th century, whereas the more recent Polje burial was in use from the 16th to 19th century, creating different temporal and geographical environments. Results for the Črnomelj burial site revealed that the petrous bone outperformed all other bone types studied, except the calcaneus. At the Polje archeological site calcanei, tali, and femurs yielded the same STR typing success as petrous bones. The results obtained highlight the importance of careful bone sample selection for DNA analysis of aged skeletal remains. In addition to petrous bones, calcanei were found to be an alternative source of DNA when older burial sites are investigated. When more recent burial sites are processed, calcanei, tali, and femurs should be sampled besides petrous bones, not only because they exhibited good performance, but also because of easier sampling and easier grinding in the case of trabecular bones. This study contributes valuable insights into the potential use of various skeletal types as a source of DNA for investigation of aged skeletal remains, and it offers practical implications for forensic and archaeological investigations., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Building a reliable biological profile from decomposed remains depends heavily on the accurate estimation of sex. A variety of methods based on every single skeletal element have been developed over the years for different populations employing both osteological and virtual methods. The latter seem to be a reasonable alternative in countries lacking osteological reference collections. The current study used 3D virtual models of calcanei from CT scans of living adults to develop a sex estimation method for contemporary Turkish. Four hundred and twenty eight calcanei CT scans were analysed. The sample was divided in two subsamples: an original (N=348) and a validation sample (N=80) with similar distribution of males and females. Nine classical measurements were taken using the 3D models of the calcanei and two different statistical methods (Discriminant function analysis and Binary logistic regression) were used. Classification accuracy ranged from 82% to 98% for the validation sample and it was consistently high using any of the two methods. Sex bias seems to be lower for most of the logistic regression equations compared to the discriminant functions. These results, however, need further testing to be verified. Based on the results of this study we recommend the use of both methods for sex estimation from the measurements of the calcaneus bone in a Turkish population., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

As a coastal region, Thailand has been significantly affected by climate change. The impacts of climate change in Thailand - temperature increase, rising sea levels, and violent flooding - are predicted to multiply in both frequency and intensity in the next few decades, which may cause an increase in mass disasters and fatalities in the region. The 2004 tsunami catastrophe in Thailand demonstrated the lack of forensic anthropology expertise and the lack of population specific methods in the region. The goal of this research is to derive population specific discriminant functions from the calcaneus for sexing unidentified skeletal remains from a contemporary Thai population. Nine variables of the calcaneus were measured from 232 individuals (116 males and 116 females) of the Chiang Mai skeletal collection with age ranges from 22 to 96 years. All nine calcanei variables were sexually dimorphic. Multivariate and univariate discriminant function analyses were completed. The multivariate analyses showed accuracy rates from 81.5% to 87.7% in males and 84.0% to 87.7% in females. The accuracy rates from the univariate analyses ranged from 71.6% to 84.0% in males and 67.9% to 85.2% in females. Comparisons to other populations were made and the results demonstrated the need for population specific discriminant functions. Overall, the cross-validation accuracies ranged from 73.4% to 94.3% with males identified correctly more often than females. This study demonstrates that the calcaneus is useful for sex estimation in the contemporary Thai population., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

During the past decade, several studies have been carried out using the calcaneus bone for sex estimation. This paper collected data using ten variables for metric characteristics of the calcaneus of 144 modern Cretans and examined their correlation with known sex. Secondly, the formulae developed by Peckmann et al. (2015) for modern Athenians was put to the test in order to investigate if it could be applied to this modern Cretan sample as well. Results showed a high correlation between the calcaneus metrics and the known sex of the individuals, however the formulae for Athenians do not seem to be suitable for the Cretans due to the high sex bias reported in this study. Thus, new standards were created for sex estimation from the calacanei in our sample. Bilateral asymmetry was noted in the majority of cases, thus formulae were developed for left, right and mean values. Maximum width (MAXW) was the variable that performed the best in the Cretan sample. Overall, the cross-validated accuracies for univariate and multivariate equations reached 84.2% with males most often correctly identified. The calcaneus was proved to be useful for sex estimation in this modern Cretan population. Further work will explore the suitability of the produced standards for other regions of mainland Greece and islands., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Body mass (BM) estimation could facilitate the interpretation of skeletal materials in terms of the individual's body size and physique in forensic anthropology. However, few metric studies have tried to estimate BM by focusing on prominent biomechanical properties of the calcaneus. The purpose of this study was to prepare best-fit models for estimating BM from the 3D human calcaneus by two major linear regression analysis (the heuristic statistical and all-possible-regressions techniques) and validate the models through predicted residual sum of squares (PRESS) statistics. A metric analysis was conducted based on 70 human calcaneus samples (29 males and 41 females) taken from 3D models in the Digital Korean Database and 10 variables were measured for each sample. Three best-fit models were postulated by F-statistics, Mallows' Cp, and Akaike information criterion (AIC) and Bayes information criterion (BIC) for each available candidate models. Finally, the most accurate regression model yields lowest %SEE and 0.843 of R(2). Through the application of leave-one-out cross validation, the predictive power was indicated a high level of validation accuracy. This study also confirms that the equations for estimating BM using 3D models of human calcaneus will be helpful to establish identification in forensic cases with consistent reliability., (Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.)

The calcaneus can be used for the differentiation of sex and populations using discriminant function equations. This bone has been used for sex determination in some population groups, but it has not been used for sex determination in Koreans until now. The purpose of this study was to develop discriminant function equations for sex determination from the calcaneus in modern Koreans and prove the need for population-specific discriminant function equations. The sample consisted of 104 calcanei from modern Korean cadavers, and 10 variables were measured for each. All variables showed statistically significant sexual differences (P<0.05) and generated a large effect size (Cohen's d>0.9). The accuracy ranged from 65.4 to 89.4%, the highest accuracy was when all variables were used in the direct method. In dimensional groups, the length dimensional group had the highest accuracy (84.6%), and MINB (body of calcaneus) and MAXL (maximum calcaneal length) could be used as a single measurement. Most Korean females were misclassified as males using the equations of other population groups, and this finding demonstrates the necessity of population-specific equations., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The ability to estimate body size from the skeleton has broad applications, but is especially important to the forensic community when identifying unknown skeletal remains. This research investigates the utility of using entheses/muscle skeletal markers of the lower limb to estimate body size and to classify individuals into average, obese, and active categories, while using a biomechanical approach to interpret the results. Eighteen muscle attachment sites of the lower limb, known to be involved in the sit-to-stand transition, were scored for robusticity and stress in 105 white males (aged 31-81 years) from the William M. Bass Donated Skeletal Collection. Both logistic regression and log linear models were applied to the data to (1) test the utility of entheses as an indicator of body weight and activity level, and (2) to generate classification percentages that speak to the accuracy of the method. Thirteen robusticity scores differed significantly between the groups, but classification percentages were only slightly greater than chance. However, clear differences could be seen between the average and obese and the average and active groups. Stress scores showed no value in discriminating between groups. These results were interpreted in relation to biomechanical forces at the microscopic and macroscopic levels. Even though robusticity alone is not able to classify individuals well, its significance may show greater value when incorporated into a model that has multiple skeletal indicators. Further research needs to evaluate a larger sample and incorporate several lines of evidence to improve classification rates., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Reliable methods for sex estimation during the development of a biological profile are important to the forensic community in instances when the common skeletal elements used to assess sex are absent or damaged. Sex estimation from the calcaneus has potentially significant importance for the forensic community. Specifically, measurements of the calcaneus provide an additional reliable method for sex estimation via discriminant function analysis based on a North American forensic population. Research on a modern American sample was chosen in order to develop up-to-date population specific discriminant functions for sex estimation. The current study addresses this matter, building upon previous research and introduces a new measurement, posterior circumference that promises to advance the accuracy of use of this single, highly resistant bone in future instances of sex determination from partial skeletal remains. Data were collected from The William Bass Skeletal Collection, housed at The University of Tennessee. Sample size includes 320 adult individuals born between the years 1900 and 1985. The sample was comprised of 136 females and 184 males. Skeletons used for measurements were confined to those with fused diaphyses showing no signs of pathology or damage that may have altered measurements, and that also had accompanying records that included information on ancestry, age, and sex. Measurements collected and analyzed include maximum length, load-arm length, load-arm width, and posterior circumference. The sample was used to compute a discriminant function, based on all four variables, and was performed in SAS 9.1.3. The discriminant function obtained an overall cross-validated classification rate of 86.69%. Females were classified correctly in 88.64% of the cases and males were correctly classified in 84.75% of the cases. Due to the increasing heterogeneity of current populations further discussion on this topic will include the importance that the re-evaluation of past studies has on modern forensic populations. Due to secular and micro evolutionary changes among populations, the near future must include additional methods being updated, and new methods being examined, both which should cover a wide population spectrum., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

In stature reconstruction using Fully's method, it is essential that a soft tissue correction factor be added to skeletal height in order to obtain an estimate of living stature. While some anthropologists consider Fully's method to be the most reliable for stature estimation, others consider it to be inadequate as it seems to be underestimating living stature, possibly due to an error in the magnitude of Fully's soft tissue factors. A recent study by Raxter and co-workers revised Fully's technique and also presented a new "universally applicable" soft tissue correction factor. The present study examines the reliability of soft tissue correction factors of Fully and Raxter et al. on a living sample of indigenous South African males. The current study is based on data collected from 28 indigenous South African (ISA) male volunteers. Standing height of each subject was measured using a stadiometer. Fully's method was used in the calculation of total skeletal height from a full body MRI scan of each subject. Subsequent analyses of the acquired data revealed that the previously derived soft tissue correction factors are not applicable to the studied sample, and why they are not applicable. The correction factors of Fully and Raxter et al. both significantly underestimate living stature in a living sample of indigenous South African males. Consequently, a new correction factor was calculated based on the prediction of living stature from TSH using regression analysis., (Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Several studies have demonstrated that discriminant function equations used to determine the sex of a skeleton are population-specific. The purpose of the present research was to develop discriminant function equations for sex determination on the basis of 18 variables on the right and left talus and calcaneus in a modern northern Italian sample. The sample consisted of 118 skeletons (62 males and 56 females) from the Frassetto Collection (University of Bologna). The ages of the individuals ranged from 19 to 70 years. The results indicated that metric traits of the talus (in particular) and calcaneus are good indicators of sexual dimorphism. The percentage of correct classification was high (87.9-95.7%). In view of the differences among current Italian populations, we tested the validity of the discriminant function equations in an independent sample of individuals of different origin (northern and southern Italy). The accuracy of classification was high only for the northern Italians. Most southern Italian males were misclassified as females, confirming the population-specificity of discriminant function equations.

Prehistoric Polynesian skeletal remains are frequently being recovered in New Zealand due to the increasing pace of urbanisation. Since such material must often be reinterred quickly, it is important that the sex of individuals be determined from the remains in a relatively short time. For this purpose, discriminant function analysis was utilised for sex determination of prehistoric adult New Zealand Polynesian tali (24 male and 27 females) and calcanei (26 males and 22 females). Two measurements of the trochlear articular surface of the talus and two measurements of the posterior talar articular surface of the calcaneus were taken and subjected to Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) discriminant function analysis. For the single discriminant function derived, accuracy in sex determination was 92.3% and reduction in error over random assignment by sex was 85%.

Since hardly a report is available on estimation of length of calcaneum and talus from a fragment of them, a fresh study was made on a present day south Indian population. A total of 110 calcanei (55 right and 55 left), and 70 tali (35 right and 35 left), all unpaired, dry, and devoid of gross pathology, were used. Maximum anteroposterior length of the bone was measured in millimeter using an anthropometric board, and linear measurements of the other bony markers were measured in millimeter using a sliding caliper. Bony markers of calcaneum were maximum anteroposterior length, maximum transverse width, length, width and depth of groove on the sustentaculum tali, and length, width, and depth of the sulcus calcanei. Bony markers of talus were maximum anteroposterior length, maximum transverse width, length and width of articular surface for the lateral malleolus, length and width of articular surface for the medial malleolus, vertical width and transverse width of articular surface of the head, width and depth of groove for tendon of the flexor hallucis longus, and length, width, and depth of the sulcus tali. Simple regression suggested that maximum length of the calcaneum regressed significantly with maximum transverse width, length, width and depth of groove on the sustentaculum tali, and length, width, and depth of the sulcus calcanei and that maximum length of the talus regressed significantly with maximum transverse width, length and width of the lateral articular surface, length of the medial articular surface, vertical and transverse diameters of the head, and depth of the sulcus tali. Maximum length of calcaneum and talus is derived from the regression values, to predict the stature of the person from available stature equations in the literature., (Copyright 2002 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd.)

The increasing pace of urbanisation has meant that prehistoric Polynesian skeletal remains are frequently being recovered in New Zealand. Since such material must often be reinterred quickly, it is important that the sex of individuals be determined from the remains in a relatively short time. For this purpose, discriminant function analysis was utilised for sex determination of prehistoric adult New Zealand Polynesian calcanei (26 male and 22 female). Five measurements were taken and subjected to Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) discriminant function analysis. For the discriminant functions derived, accuracy of sex determination ranged from 88.4 to 93.5%. Reduction in error over random assignment by sex ranged from 77 to 87%., (Copyright 2002 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd.)

Lateral and anteroposterior radiographs of the ankles of 800 Central Europeans aged 20 to 79 were analyzed with regard to sexual dimorphism. All the distances, but not the angles, of the calcaneus were much larger in males than in females. Approximately 80% of the study sample could be sexed correctly by classifying all specimens greater than 86.0 mm in length as male and those less than 86.0 mm as female. The prevalence of os tibiale externum was 8.0 and 2.6% and the prevalence of plantar heel spur was 16.3 and 6.5% (increasing with age) for males and females, respectively, being significantly more frequent in females. On the other hand, the bone island frequencies were 9.1% in males and 4.8% in females. Our study suggests that radiographs of the ankle are a convenient, rapid, cheap and non-invasive means for estimating sex.