Department of Anatomy, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa.
J Forensic Sci. 2023 Mar;68(2):586-595. doi: 10.1111/1556-4029.15194. Epub 2023 Jan 13.
Standard operating procedures for forensic anthropological analyses dictate that thermally altered remains should not be measured, hindering the creation of a biological profile. Few studies have addressed estimating biological parameters from burned remains, with the greatest focus of this research area being on cremated remains. However, veldt fires are more common than cremation in the South African forensic context. The aim of this study was to explore the degree of structural changes observed in domestic pig (Sus scrofa) bones associated with thermal destruction and the potential impact on the estimation of a biological profile using standard osteometric methods. A total of 96 pig femora were divided equally into two categories: fresh and dry. Within each category, equal samples were exposed to different durations of burning, namely, 5, 10, and 20 min. Ten standard femoral anthropological measurements were collected before and after burning. Technical error of measurement and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were used to assess changes in the femoral dimensions before and after burning. Most measurements were significantly different after burning, with the fresh bones decreasing in size by up to 7.8% and the dry bones decreasing in size by up to 4.0%. The magnitude of post-burning measurement changes for both burn conditions was similar to, or smaller than has previously been reported for observer measurement errors of commonly used variables investigated for standard osteometric studies. Veldt fires are less intense than cremation, thus causing less shrinkage.
法医人类学分析的标准操作规程规定，不应测量受热改变的遗骸，这阻碍了生物特征谱的建立。很少有研究涉及从燃烧的遗骸中估计生物参数，这个研究领域的最大重点是火化后的遗骸。然而，在南非法医背景下，原野火灾比火化更为常见。本研究旨在探讨与热破坏相关的家养猪（Sus scrofa）骨骼结构变化的程度，以及使用标准骨骼测量方法估计生物特征谱的潜在影响。总共 96 根猪股骨被平均分为两组：新鲜组和干燥组。在每个组中，相同数量的样本分别暴露于不同的燃烧时间，即 5、10 和 20 分钟。在燃烧前后收集了 10 个标准股骨人类学测量值。使用技术误差测量和 Wilcoxon 符号秩检验来评估燃烧前后股骨尺寸的变化。大多数测量值在燃烧后都有显著差异，新鲜的骨头尺寸减小了最多 7.8%，干燥的骨头尺寸减小了最多 4.0%。两种燃烧条件下燃烧后测量值变化的幅度与以前报道的用于标准骨骼测量研究的常用变量的观察者测量误差的变化幅度相似或更小。原野火灾的强度不如火化，因此造成的收缩较小。
