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The purpose of this paper is to present the identified skeletal collection (by age, sex, cause of death, occupation and preservation state) from the Certosa Cemetery of Bologna (Italy), which was reviewed and checked through a consultation of the cemetery archives. The collection consists of 425 skeletons of individuals (from newborn to 91 years old) who died in Bologna between 1898 and 1944. The personal details associated with the skeletons were cross-checked with the data contained in the cemetery and municipal archives. For each skeleton, the biological profile was assessed using current anthropological methods in order to confirm its correct identification. Four hundred and eighteen skeletons (98.4%), mostly complete and well preserved, are identified at least for sex, and for 95% of these, the age is known. The distribution of sexes in the various age groups is fairly well balanced. The cause of death is known in 93% of the individuals. Approximately 30% of the individuals died from infectious diseases. The occupation is known for more than 92% of the individuals. Most of the women were housewives, while the men were employed in various jobs. The cross-check between archival data with the anthropological analysis of the remains enabled a reliable identification of the skeletons. The sexes and various age groups are well represented, and the sample is substantially uniform as far as geographical origin and socio-economic conditions (lower social classes) are concerned. Thanks to the reliability of the information collected, the Certosa collection is an excellent anthropological tool for the development and validation of osteobiographic methods. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Sex estimation in subadult skeletal remains is still considered highly problematic. The aim of this research is to test the reliability of the method of subadult sex assessment proposed by Luna and co-workers in 2017, based on the analysis of the auricular surface of the ilium., Materials and Methods: Seven ratios and three morphological traits were recorded for 127 subadult individuals (63 males and 64 females), aged between 0 and 17 years, from several Identified Skeletal Collections of the University of Bologna. Nonparametric Mann Whitney test, Kolmogorov Smirnov test, and the Pearson correlation coefficient were used for continuous variables, whereas the Cramer Coefficient was calculated for qualitative variable. A principal component analysis was also performed on ratio values. The statistic ƞ was taken into account for both types of variables., Results: None of the ratios presented significant dimorphic results. Two qualitative variables show statistically significant differences between sexes. The overall morphology proved to be an accurate sex predictor among children aged ≥4 years (78%-86%) and meets the minimum accuracy standard (75%) for subadult sex estimation for individuals between 1 and 17 years of age. The morphology of the retroauricular end of the superior demiface (MRS) can be used with a high level of accuracy for sexing individuals from 1 to 12 years (77%-81%)., Conclusions: The metric variables did not replicate the accuracy values originally obtained by Luna and co-workers. Otherwise, the evaluation of the morphological variables proposed by the authors yielded promising results as a reliable sexing technique for individuals who died before puberty., (© 2020 Wiley Periodicals LLC.)