A New Means of Identification of the Human Being: The Longitudinal Striation of the Nails

Frequency of biological non-skeletal materials in dry bone scenarios

“…Nonetheless, after prolonged burial, nail keratin may be subject to significant degradation impacting DNA and isotopic analyses and compromising the results. 34 Moreover, studies have argued that the nail ridge pattern is unique to each person, 36,37 and can be used as a mean for personal identification 38,39 or to link a suspect to a crime scene or a victim. 36 In this research, nails were found in 19% of the skeletal remains examined, still attached to the distal phalanges of hands and feet, or intact among the soil and dirt recovered during the exhumation (Fig.…”