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This paper focuses on an unusual Pre-Hispanic burial, 11-12^th century cal AD, from Fuerteventura Island. The pattern of injuries of the skeletal remains, together with the grave's features suggest exceptional circumstances of death and funerary treatment differing from those commonly observed elsewhere among the indigenous population of the Canary Archipelago. The study first uses forensic anthropology techniques to characterise the individual's injuries before turning to archaeological and ethno-historical records of the indigenous populations to identify the potential scenarios explaining the fatal injuries. The nature of the peri-mortem lesions, especially those to the head, is consistent with an intention to kill. This case provides an opportunity to analyze the mechanisms of violence in a society with strong environmental limitations and conditions of isolation, as well as to deepen the concept of justice in ancient times.

The aim of this study was to calculate and compare the prevalence of thinness in children born in 1990 and in 1996 in Vilnius, Lithuania. The study was longitudinal as the data used for calculation were obtained by measuring every child's height and weight at least once per year from birth to the age of 17. The measurements were transcribed from the children's personal health records from the same outpatient clinic. The prevalence of overall thinness and grade 1 thinness in children that were born in 1996 was considerably lower compared to the children that were born in 1990. The prevalence of grade 1 thinness comprised the majority of all thinness cases in girls and boys alike. In conjunction with another study (Suchomlinov et al. 2016), which assessed the same children and discovered an increase in the prevalence of overweight and obesity, a clear trend of a decrease in the prevalence of thinness and normal BMI, while an increase in the prevalence of overweight and obesity in children born in 1996 compared to 1990, emerged.

The fibula is often not used for anthropological estimations, as its morphological variation is expected to be insufficient to allow accurate estimations. However, in forensic or archaeological contexts, there is the possibility that the fibula is the only bone available for analysis. The present study applied geometric morphometrics to evaluate the potential of using fibular morphology for assessment of sex and ancestry. Three-dimensional datasets of 1609 fibulae of adult South Africans (412 females, 507 males) were digitized. Datasets were submitted to Generalized Procrustes Analysis for rotation and scaling to a common centroid. Mean centroid sizes were compared using parametric testing, and morphological variation was assessed using multivariate analyses. Discriminant Function Analysis coupled with leave-one-out cross-validation testing was used to assess classification accuracy of sex and ancestry based on these shape variations. Fibulae were smaller in females than males, but show insufficient shape variation to distinguish the sexes. Fibulae of Coloured individuals were relatively and absolutely smaller than those of the Black and White ancestry groups, likely due to contributions of small-bodied groups to the genetic composition of this group. Based on shape variation, ancestry estimations of 72.4-77.2% were obtained. Evaluation of variation according to sex and ancestry combined still produced insufficient distinction between the sexes and decreased the accuracy of ancestry classification. These results show that morphological variation of the fibula may not be useful for sex estimation, but provides reasonable accuracies for ancestry estimations, making it particularly useful in cases where only the fibula is available for analysis.

Coastal residents are quite often expected to consume a significant amount of aquatic resources, though historical evidence often reveals a rather complex diet. To better understand the actual consumption and the distribution of various foods, stable isotope (δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N) analyses were employed to skeletal remains from three coastal communities, Palanga, Kretinga and Smeltė, ranging in date from the medieval period to the early modern ages (14^th-early 20^th c.) near the Curonian Lagoon and the Baltic Sea in Lithuania. Animal bones from the region, covering the same time periods, were also analysed. Stable isotope results were compared with historical records. According to historical sources different types of diet were prevalent during that period of time: Medieval Prussian-Lithuanian peasant, Lithuanian fisherman, German urban, and religious-based. Elevated δ¹⁵N values for Smeltė samples suggest a diet consisting of considerable amounts of freshwater fish protein, which is in contrast to historical sources. There were no significant differences in stable isotope values between males and females, while subadult δ¹⁵N values were significantly higher than adult ones, indicating that those children were breastfed for an extended period. Meanwhile, Palanga and Kretinga samples had isotope values suggesting a high reliance on terrestrial resources and a peasant type of diet.

Life history theory predicts that experiencing stress during the early period of life will result in accelerated growth and earlier maturation. Indeed, animal and some human studies documented a faster pace of growth in the offspring of stressed mothers. Recent advances in epigenetics suggest that the effects of early developmental stress might be passed across the generations. However, evidence for such intergenerational transmission is scarce, at least in humans. Here we report the results of the study investigating the association between childhood trauma in mothers and physical growth in their children during the first months of life. Anthropometric and psychological data were collected from 99 mothers and their exclusively breastfed children at the age of 5 months. The mothers completed the Early Life Stress Questionnaire to assess childhood trauma. The questionnaire includes questions about the most traumatic events that they had experienced before the age of 12 years. Infant growth was evaluated based on the anthropometric measurements of weight, length, and head circumference. Also, to control for the size of maternal investment, the composition of breast milk samples taken at the time of infant anthropometric measurements was investigated. The children of mothers with higher early life stress tended to have higher weight and bigger head circumference. The association between infant anthropometrics and early maternal stress was not affected by breast milk composition, suggesting that the effect of maternal stress on infant growth was independent of the size of maternal investment. Our results demonstrate that early maternal trauma may affect the pace of growth in the offspring and, in consequence, lead to a faster life history strategy. This effect might be explained via changes in offspring epigenetics.

This paper discusses our approach and results obtained when attempting to identify a saponified human body recovered from the sea, without arms and legs. Bones, especially the long ones, are the only sources of DNA available in several cases involving unidentified bodies in advanced state of putrefaction. In this case, since the body was found without limbs, attempts were made to extract DNA from the sternum bone. The DNA was extracted using a modified version of the NucleoSpin^® DNA Trace Kit (Macherey Nagel™) protocol and an STR analysis was performed. Thanks to this modified protocol a complete DNA profile was obtained from the sternum bone, while only partial results were obtained from blood and teeth. The DNA profile obtained from the sternum was compared with the DNA of the putative son searching for a genetic match. Five incompatibilities were detected so it was possible to exclude the kinship. In conclusion this could be a useful technique in personal identification through DNA analysis in case of poor quality and quantity of bone.

Recent advances in age-at-death estimation from the skeleton indicate that some of the most commonly used methods based on linear regression provide different results compared to new techniques using Bayesian statistics, and underestimate individuals over 60 years old which leads to biased prehistoric lifespans. The question is how the choice of age-at-death estimation method can influence subsequent comparisons between different populations or further analysis, such as assessment of the effect of early stress on mortality in adult individuals. The aim of our work is twofold: firstly, to test the differences between age estimation methods evaluating one indicator (the auricular surface), namely the original (Lovejoy et al. 1985), revised (Buckberry & Chamberlain 2002) and newly developed (Schmitt 2005) methods, on the Early Medieval adult population from Mikulčice - III^rd church (Czech Republic, Central Europe). The secondary objective is to assess whether the different age distributions based on the different methods have an impact on age-dependent analyses, in this case the relationship between LEH and age-at-death. Our results showed that in the adult population from Mikulčice - III^rd church, the original and revised methods provided different mortality profiles: the proportion of individuals older than 60 years acquired using Lovejoy's method was only 6.7%, while the newer methods increased the proportion to 26.7% (Buckberry & Chamberlain 2002) and 23.9% (Schmitt 2005). The choice of age-at-death estimation, and thus the different age distributions, also resulted in differences in the achieved age of individuals with and without stress markers, and specifically in the significance of the differences found. This finding seeks to draw attention to the fact that inconsistency in the use of different age-estimation methods can influence the results of further analyses and cause problems when comparing burial grounds.

The height of an individual (stature) is one of the biological profiles that is estimated as part of human identification process from various components of the human skeleton. The anatomical method is often used for this purpose when a complete and intact skeleton is available for forensic analysis because it is accurate. Since complete skeletons are seldom present in most forensic cases, the mathematical method, which shows linear relationship between stature and bone measurements, becomes the method of choice. Population and sex-specific regression equations for stature estimation have been formulated using intact and fragmentary long bones amongst South African whites and blacks. Individual and combinations of measurements of other skeletal elements including bones of the feet have also been used in the formulation of regression equations. However, few studies have utilized measurements of the skull for stature reconstruction. Skeletal height, calculated from a suite of measurements, was regressed on six cranial measurements. Basibregmatic height and basion-nasion length presented with the highest correlation coefficient for an individual variable in males (0.50) and females (0.48), respectively. The range of correlation coefficient from multivariate analyses in males (0.58-0.63) is similar to that obtained in females (0.55-0.62). The standard error of estimates of the equations, a measure of the accuracy of the equations, for male sample (6.74-7.09) was slightly higher than that for females (5.47-5.89). Regression equations presented in this study should be used with caution in forensic cases when only the skull is available for human identification. Significance of main findings: 1. Skull measurements show low to moderate correlation with stature. 2. Use of skull dimensions is advised only in the absence of intact long bones and other skeletal elements in South Africa.

Age at death estimation methods, when applied to skeletal remains of adults, have provided inaccurate results. These aging methods often depend on observations of the degenerative changes occurring at specific articulations, however, the effects of the aging process on the human skeleton are only partially known. Therefore a need exists to increase our understanding about the age related metamorphosis process to improve aging methods. The aim of this study is to determine which age-related traits observable on the pelvic bone articulations are correlated and to quantify their shared degenerative variance. Thus it is intended to quantify the degenerative relationship among features within each pelvic joint. Fifteen age related traits were analyzed for the pubic symphysis, eight traits for the auricular surface of the ilium, and six traits for the acetabulum. Age-related traits from the pelvic joints were recorded on adult skeletons from two reference collections the William Bass Donated Skeletal Collection and the Coimbra Collection. A Principal Components Analysis, partial correlation controlling for age, and a Kendall's W coefficient of concordance were calculated to determine the level of dependence among traits. A similar pattern of correlation amongst traits was obtained for both collections. Some of the traits shared a high to moderate correlation. However, some features, such as dense bone at the auricular surface, possessed a high independence from other traits. Results suggest that age estimation methods should take into consideration how age-related traits correlate and their level of dependence, which may possibly assist in the establishment of more effective scoring systems in new and revised age at death estimation methods.

Osteoporosis is a skeletal disorder characterized by low bone mass and microarchitectural deterioration of bone tissue with consequent increase in bone fragility and fracture risk. Bone mineral density (BMD), the major determinant of osteoporotic fracture risk, has a particular genetic background. Vitamin D receptor (VDR) is implicated in the regulation of bone mineral density. The present study evaluates the association between Vitamin D receptor gene polymorphisms Fok I (rs2228570), Cdx-2 (rs11568820), bone mineral density and fracture risk in Slovak postmenopausal women. A total of 403 unrelated Slovak postmenopausal women aged 43-86 years were genotyped using TaqMan®SNP Genotyping Assays. Lumbar spine, femoral neck and total hip BMD/T-score were detected by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA). We found the Fok I and Cdx-2 polymorphism in the VDR gene to be associated with osteoporotic fractures (non-vertebral fractures: Fok I p = 0.001; Cdx-2 p = 0.0000; all fractures: Fok I p = 0.0001; Cdx-2 p = 0.0000) (Fok I: OR = 0.50, 95% CI = 0.35-0.71; Cdx-2: OR = 0.25, 95% CI = 0.17-0.37). The present data suggest that VDR gene Fok I and Cdx-2 polymorphisms contribute to the determination of BMD in Slovak postmenopausal women and can probably be used with other genetic markers together to identify individuals at high risk of osteoporosis.