Barreiro M Beatriz, Fernandes João, Morgado Miguel, Gonçalves David, Ferreira Maria Teresa
Centre for Functional Ecology, Laboratory of Forensic Anthropology, Department of Life Sciences, University of Coimbra, Calçada Martim de Freitas, Coimbra, 3000-456, Portugal.
Department of Physics, Faculty of Sciences and Technology, LIBPhys-UC, University of Coimbra, Rua Larga, Coimbra, 3004-516, Portugal.
Int J Legal Med. 2025 Jul 22. doi: 10.1007/s00414-025-03567-2.
This study evaluates the performance of two stature estimation methods developed for unburnt bones - Cordeiro et al. (2009) and Mendonça (2000) - here applied to bones submitted to heat exposure. The skeletal remains of twelve individuals were experimentally burnt in an electric muffle at maximum temperatures ranging from 413ºC to 900ºC. Stature estimations were calculated before and after burning using the humerus, the femur, the first metatarsal, and the second metatarsal. Results showed that the bones burnt below 700ºC experienced minimal shrinkage (1.32 ± 0.62%), therefore resulting in post-burning interval estimates consistent with pre-burning estimates. Conversely, bones burnt at 700ºC or higher displayed accentuated shrinkage (9.57 ± 0.69%), thus affecting the performance of both methods. Heat-induced changes to the humerus and the femur frequently hindered the application of the method of Mendonça (2000), suggesting Cordeiro et al. (2009) to be more viable for burnt remains contexts. Adding a 10% shrinkage correction factor to the measurements improved the accuracy of the stature estimates, fitting the pre-burning estimates within the post-burning intervals. A 12% correction factor was also tested but it tended to overestimate the post-burning intervals. Although the method of Cordeiro et al. (2009) demonstrated a good performance when applied to burnt remains, these findings emphasize the impact of heat-induced changes on stature estimation and the necessity of specific (or adjusted) approaches for calcined bones.
本研究评估了两种为未燃烧骨骼开发的身高估计方法——科代罗等人（2009年）和门东萨（2000年）——在此应用于经受热暴露的骨骼。十二名个体的骨骼遗骸在电炉马弗炉中进行实验性燃烧，最高温度范围为413℃至900℃。在燃烧前后，使用肱骨、股骨、第一跖骨和第二跖骨计算身高估计值。结果表明，在700℃以下燃烧的骨骼收缩最小（1.32±0.62%），因此燃烧后的间隔估计与燃烧前的估计一致。相反，在700℃或更高温度下燃烧的骨骼显示出明显的收缩（9.57±0.69%），从而影响了两种方法的性能。热诱导对肱骨和股骨的变化经常阻碍门东萨（2000年）方法的应用，这表明科代罗等人（2009年）的方法在燃烧遗骸的情况下更可行。在测量值上增加10%的收缩校正因子提高了身高估计的准确性，使燃烧前的估计值符合燃烧后的间隔。还测试了12%的校正因子，但它往往高估了燃烧后的间隔。尽管科代罗等人（2009年）的方法在应用于燃烧遗骸时表现良好，但这些发现强调了热诱导变化对身高估计的影响以及煅烧骨骼采用特定（或调整）方法的必要性。
