title: Novel dating method to distinguish between forensic and archeological human skeletal remains by bone mineralization indexes.
abstract: The fast, high-throughput distinction between paleoanthropological remains and recent forensic/clinical bone samples is of vital importance in the field of medicolegal science. In this paper, a novel screening method has been described, using the crystallinity index (C.I.) and carbonate-phosphate index (C/P) as a means to distinguish between archeological and forensic anthropological skeletal findings. According to the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analyses, the archeological bone samples are characterized by a range of C.I. between 2.84 and 3.78 and by low C/P values of 0.10-0.33, while the C.I. and C/P ranges of forensic skeletal remains are 2.55-3.18 and 0.38-0.88, respectively. Significant (p < 0.05) changes were observed in C/P as well as C.I. values between the groups of forensic and archeological skeletal samples. The suggested dating method needs only a few milligramms of bone tissue; thus, it can be extremely useful for distiguishing ancient and recent bone fragments.
authors.affiliation: Department of Analytical Biochemistry, Institute of Biochemistry and Medical Chemistry, Medical School, University of Pecs, Szigeti Str. 12, Pecs, 7624, Hungary.
authors.forename: Zoltan
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Patonai
authors.forename: Gabor
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Maasz
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Avar
authors.forename: Janos
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Schmidt
authors.forename: Tamas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lorand
authors.forename: Istvan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Bajnoczky
authors.forename: Laszlo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mark
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000365:Age Determination by Skeleton / Q000379:methods*; D001031:Apatites / Q000032:analysis; D002113:Calcification, Physiologic; D002254:Carbonates / Q000032:analysis; D003460:Crystallization; D005260:Female; D018732:Forensic Anthropology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010710:Phosphates / Q000032:analysis; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; D013904:Thoracic Vertebrae / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D001031:Apatites; D002254:Carbonates; D010710:Phosphates