Determining the time of injury is an important but still a challenging task in forensic anthropology. In literature, many descriptions can be found to make a distinction between perimortem and postmortem fractures. Characteristics that are more related to fractures in fresh conditions, however, are not extensively investigated. This study compared 28 perimortem fractures from autopsies and 21 both fresh and dry experimentally reproduced human bone fractures. Preliminary results showed the following five distinct traits that might be related to perimortem conditions: layered breakage, bone scales, crushed margins, wave lines and flakes with matching flake defect. These distinct traits might not only be good estimators of perimortem trauma but also may be an indicator of trauma in intra vitam conditions, especially related with muscular reaction to injury. Furthermore, layered breakage seems to be a good trait to infer the biomechanics of trauma.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.