title: Anthropological analysis of the Second World War skeletal remains from three karst sinkholes located in southern Croatia.
abstract: Although in the cases of war crimes the main effort goes to the identification of victims, it is crucial to consider the execution event as a whole. Thus, the goal of the research was to determine the trauma type and probable cause of death on skeletal remains of civilians executed by partisans from WWS found in the three karst sinkholes and to explain the context in which the injuries occurred. We determined biological profiles, pathological conditions, traumas, and assessed their lethality. Nineteen skeletons were found, 68.4% had, at least, one perimortem trauma, classified as lethal/lethal if untreated in 69.2% cases. The type of execution and administered violence showed to be age and health dependent: elderly and diseased were executed with the intention to kill, by the gunshot facing victims, whilst the more violent behavior expressed towards younger and healthy individuals was indicated by the higher frequency of blunt force trauma.
authors.affiliation: University of Split, University Department for Forensic Sciences, Ruđera Boškovića 33, 21000 Split, Croatia. Electronic address: ivanjerkovic13@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Ivan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Jerković
authors.affiliation: University of Split, University Department for Forensic Sciences, Ruđera Boškovića 33, 21000 Split, Croatia. Electronic address: zeljana.basic@unist.hr.
authors.forename: Željana
authors.initials: Ž
authors.lastname: Bašić
authors.affiliation: University of Split, School of Medicine, Šoltanska 1, 21000 Split, Croatia. Electronic address: kristijan.becic@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Kristijan
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bečić
authors.affiliation: Ministry of Veteran's Affairs, Directory for Detainees and Missing Persons, Trg Nevenke Topalušić 1, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia. Electronic address: Gordana.Jambresic@branitelji.hr.
authors.forename: Gordana
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Jambrešić
authors.affiliation: Ministry of Veteran's Affairs, Directory for Detainees and Missing Persons, Trg Nevenke Topalušić 1, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia. Electronic address: ivan.grujic@branitelji.hr.
authors.forename: Ivan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Grujić
authors.affiliation: Clinical Department for Pathology, Forensic Medicine and Cytology, Clinical Hospital Center, Spinčićeva 1, 21000 Split, Croatia. Electronic address: antonio.alujevic@st.htnet.hr.
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alujević
authors.affiliation: University of Split, University Department for Forensic Sciences, Ruđera Boškovića 33, 21000 Split, Croatia. Electronic address: ivana.kruzic@unist.hr.
authors.forename: Ivana
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kružić
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000071298:Body Remains; D001842:Bone and Bones / Q000293:injuries* / Q000473:pathology; D017523:Croatia; D005260:Female; D018732:Forensic Anthropology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014858:War Crimes; D047789:World War II; D014948:Wounds, Gunshot / Q000473:pathology; D014949:Wounds, Nonpenetrating / Q000473:pathology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Croatia; Forensic anthropology; Forensic science; Legal medicine; Skeletal trauma; WWS