The tall order of stature estimation in burnt skeletal remains: a performance test in the Portuguese population.

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.