Validation study of osteometric techniques for sorting commingled human skeletal remains in archaeological samples

Abstract

The biological profile of human remains is fundamental for understanding the structure of past societies and their life histories. However, the assessment of the demographics of an assemblage is hindered when dealing with commingled burials. Consequently, methods for sorting commingled skeletons are essential in a bioarchaeological context. The aim of this study was to provide insight into osteometric sorting techniques when dealing with archaeological commingled skeletal remains. For the purposes of this research, Byrd and LeGarde's pair‐matching osteometric sorting and regression models, which use measurements created for fragmented bones, were tested on 61 adult individuals exhumed from single burial plots from five different Greek archaeological sites. The results showed that the regression models exhibit much lower rates of true positive results (18.2–67.6% and 4.8–71.7% for the left and right side, respectively) than the pair‐matching model (74.1–89.5%), whereas the rates of the false positive results are almost equivalent (approximately 20–35%). Therefore, the application of the pair‐matching osteometric sorting model can provide a set of potential matches in an archaeological context. However, it is essential to utilize other techniques as well, in order to verify the results.

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