Bone histology and chemistry for forensic identification: what can a small rib fragment tell you?

Introduction: Age-at-death and origin are crucial pieces of information required for the

identification of unknown individuals. Macroscopic, microscopic and laboratory-based

analyses are used for these purposes with the choice of the method being critical to

ensure accurate results. This research investigates the development of Cretan

population-specific methods of identification through bone histology and isotope

analysis.

Materials and Methods: Fifty-two rib fragments of known age from the Cretan

osteological collection were used for this study. Histomorphometric analysis and multiisotope profiles were applied in an effort to explore age related changes and their

significance in origin prediction. Moreover, histological and stable isotopes- data were

analysed jointly in a small sample set (N=11). Statistical analysis was performed with

IBM SPSS 24.

Results: Age estimates showed higher accuracy rates using population-specific

formulae with a minimum error of 13 years from known age when applying two

histological variables. C13 and N15 showed correlations with age and differences were

also observed between healthy and pathological samples. The combination of both data

analyses on the small data set provided age estimates with less than 10 years of

standard error.

Conclusions: Rib fragments are routinely used in forensic age estimation and stable

isotopes in diet reconstruction and determination of origin. This paper gives a different

perspective in forensic investigation by investigating separately and jointly both

analyses conducted in small rib samples. Confirmation of this preliminary analysis is

required and it can open new avenues in forensic identification applicable in a range of

fatalities involving unidentified individuals.