Identification of historical human skeletal remains: a case study using skeletal and dental age,history and DNA

Excavation of an early historical (circa 1900) church cemetery in Cochrane, Alberta, Canada, revealed the graves of six individuals. All but one had been previously excavated and the individuals were re‐interred elsewhere. The remaining grave contained a coffin burial of an infant including most of the skeleton, crowns of forming deciduous teeth, scalp and hair. The remains were excavated and historical research was carried out to determine possible families who had used the cemetery. Skeletal and dental age estimates pointed to a particular individual described in historical records. This identification was confirmed through more precise ageing by dental microstructure, sex determination using DNA, and finally, maternal relatedness by comparison of mtDNA with a living female relative. In addition to describing the analytical methods used, this paper demonstrates the importance of accurately identifying historical burials, particularly when living relatives remain in the community. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A dental study comparing age estimations of the human remains from the Swedish warship Vasa

The great Swedish warship Vasa capsized and sank in Stockholm harbour on her maiden voyage in 1628. The ship was raised from the seabed in 1961 and skeletal remains were recovered from at least 25 individuals, with teeth and jaws from 17 of them. The skeletal material was odontologically examined, including dental radiographs. Teeth lost both ante‐mortem and post‐mortem were recorded and variations in tooth anatomy noted. Acquired changes were recorded including enamel hypoplasia, attrition, dental caries and periodontal recession. Age estimations based on a separate odontological study, osteological changes and tooth attrition had been made in 1989. Ages were estimated additionally by three non‐destructive dental methods based on (a) the length of the apical translucent zone, (b) selected measurements both on intact teeth and from ratios on dental radiographs and (c) ratios of the length and width measurements on dental radiographs from selected teeth. Several sources of post‐mortem changes had been observed, among them vivianite in 33 teeth from four individuals. The results of the dental examination showed that few teeth had been lost ante‐mortem, there was a low caries rate and little loss of periodontal attachments. With few exceptions, there is fairly good agreement between the different methods of estimating age. Age estimates based on dental attrition were, however, significantly different from the other dental methods and age estimates calculated from apical translucency ought to be regarded with scepticism due to post‐mortem changes. The chronological ages of the victims will never be known, but age estimates based on all the age‐markers available will probably reach a fairly close approximation. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.