Exploring the potential of cranial non-metric traits as a tool for personal identification: the never-ending dilemma

Abstract

Forensic anthropologists tasked with identification of skeletal remains often have to set up new strategies to overcome the limitations of conventional individualizing markers. A sound acquaintance with non-metric traits is essential for a reliable distinction between normal variations and pathological or traumatic conditions, yet the role of cranial variants in the identification process is still somehow ill-defined. One hundred crania (50 males and 50 females) of known sex and age were selected from the Collezione Antropologica LABANOF (a documented contemporary skeletal collection) and non-metric traits were scored as present or absent and by side. The frequencies of 13 traits were used to calculate the compound probabilities to find an individual with an exact combination of cranial features in the worldwide population. The probabilities of the majority of the individuals (53%) are within the 1 out of 10 million–1 out of 1 million interval. However, a fair number of subjects (25%) of the sample have the probabilities falling into the 1 out of 1 billion–1 out of 100 million interval, while the probabilities of a small portion of the sample (10%) are less than 1 out of 1 billion. This pilot study illustrates that some combinations of cranial variants are quite rare and may represent potential evidence to discern presumptive identifications, when an appropriate set of traits is selected and antemortem data are available for comparison. However, further research on larger and various samples is needed to confirm or discard the use of combinations of cranial non-metric traits as individualizing markers.

Does sternal body shape reflect family relationships? A study on a genealogically documented Central European osteological sample (19th–20th centuries)

“…Some studies have pointed to a shared occurrence of some morphological traits among biologically related individuals, such as sternal foramina (Crubézy, 1992), manubriosternal fusion (Cvrček, Kuželka, et al, 2021a), and pectus excavatum (Creswick et al, 2006). This fact could be used both for the detection of biological relationships in individuals from anonymous prehistoric burial grounds (Cockerill et al, 2021; Johnson, 2018; Sjögren et al, 2020) and for the identification of an individual, which would be based on the data of their biological relatives (Palamenghi et al, 2021). On the other hand, it must be taken into account that a high degree of similarity between biologically related individuals could cause a false‐positive identification (Cameriere et al, 2008).…”

Nonmetric Variants of Anatolian Crania: A Preliminary Study

“…Nonmetric cranial variants is of interest for population studies, forensic anthropology, and clinics. Forensic anthropologists utilize the nonmetric variants when metric evaluations are not able to conduct due to the problems in preservation of the remains 6,13. It is also essential in differentiating the typical and pathologic anatomy which some of the variants can mimic the skeletal pathology 14.…”

“…The importance of nonmetric cranial variant studies continues to increase with the re-evaluation of prehistoric social communities, anatomic, anthropological, and even current clinical practice analyses 2. These variants are useful in measuring the biological distance between populations and the relationship between subjects 1,3–6. So that the ontogeny, asymmetry, sexual dimorphism, and intertrait association were related with a possible genetic linkage 7–9.…”

“…2 These variants are useful in measuring the biological distance between populations and the relationship between subjects. 1,[3][4][5][6] So that the ontogeny, asymmetry, sexual dimorphism, and intertrait association were related with a possible genetic linkage. [7][8][9] Nonmetric variants may also be used as taxonomic indicators.…”

“…Forensic anthropologists utilize the nonmetric variants when metric evaluations are not able to conduct due to the problems in preservation of the remains. 6,13 It is also essential in differentiating the typical and pathologic anatomy which some of the variants can mimic the skeletal pathology. 14 In clinics, the nonmetric variants are important in terms of precise prediction of the localization of foramen-foramina for neurovascular bundles to find or protect them especially in anesthetic interventions 6,15,16 and defining the correct acupoints of face for acupuncture.…”