SARA VICKERSOCTOBER 20 , 2009

Assessment of commingled Human Remains Using a GIS-

Based Approach

Methods to gather Data and Definitions

Element: Individual bone –ex. femurMNI-minimum number of individuals to

account for all bone specimensMNE-minimum number of skeletal elements

to necessary to account for all bone specimens -Does not take into account sides -Example: 8 elements: 2 left femur heads, 1 left distal femur epiphysis, 2 right proximal humeri,

2 left distal radiiMNI: 3, MNE: 6

BoneEntryGIS

Customized ArcView extensionUses element-specific GIS to calculate MNE

estimates.Overcome the traditional inventory systems

in managing fragmentary and highly modified remains. -visual identification, osteometrics,

Identifiable bone fragments digitized and assessed.

Walker-Noe site 14Gd56Garrard County, Kentucky

Early Middle Woodland Adena crematory170 B.C. to A.D. 130Adena culture found throughout Ohio River

Valley. In Kentucky-extended interments with few

cremations within large mounded burial facilities.

Short-use facility-in situ cremations-evidence of burned soilCeremonial projectile points/knives

Adena Mound

-Mounds used for burial complexes, ceremonies, often times layered; mound of ceremonial objects/remains-burned and repeated

Skeletal Analysis

Most fragments less than 3 centimeters in diameter

Extensive heat alteration, burned on internal and external surfaces.

Evidence of calcination- gray and whitish gray in color

Warping, cracking, fracturingSkull fragments identification easily

recognizable compared to post-cranial skeleton

GIS Analysis

Bone frags separated into 3 categories: cranial, post-cranial, and indeterminate

Focused on: frontal, zygomatic, maxilla, and mandible

Shapefile templates created, Adobe Photoshop created images (2 dimensional) to enter into GIS

Easily Identifiable Features

Maxilla and Zygomatic Arch

Frontal Bone

Mandible

Femur Ulna-Radius

Postcranial Skeleton

Site Results

MNI of 21 individualsMNE results vary: Zygomatic = 17 elements,

mandible and right maxilla = 21 elements, left maxilla =20 elements Depicts issues with digitization of elements, once into

the system, different views are hard to accurately depict, specifically the lateral view.

Could be solved with 3 dimensional scanner

Site Results

High representation of cranial fragments-possibly due to “trophy heads”

Fracturing and cracking consistent with burning of dry bone.

Further analysis of post-cranial skeletal fragments to show relationship to cranial MNI.

-post-cranial frags very hard to distinguish specific elements

Conclusion

Initial results from visual inspection of cranial fragments showed MNI of less than 10 individuals

Using GIS allows researcher to gain additional information to use as secondary research questions

Problems: Time intensive, some elements clearly unidentifiable, exclusively done by highly skilled osteologist.

Infants and juveniles should have separate modelsElement shapefiles produce a standardized

presence of bone fragments, linked databases provides fragments specific information for user queries