Ancient skeleton covered in cannabis shroud unearthed in China

A team of archaeologists led by Hongen Jiang with the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences working in the Turpan Basin in a northwestern part of China has unearthed the skeleton of a man who died between 2,500 and 2,800 years ago and was covered with a cannabis shroud when he was buried. In their paper published in the journal Economic Botany, the team describes how they were continuing work on exploring an ancient cemetery looking for clues about early cannabis use and happened upon the unusual find.

Humans have a long history of using cannabis for a variety of purposes—as hemp, it has been used to make rope and clothes; its seeds have been consumed to gain nutrition from the oils they contain, but perhaps most notoriously, the plant has been burned or eaten to gain a feeling of euphoria. In this new find, it appears the plant may have been used as part of a burial ritual.

The skeleton has been identified as once belonging to a Caucasian man approximately 35 years old at the time of his death. Those that had buried him had placed a willow pillow under his head and had then placed a shroud of (13) cannabis plants over his chest reaching from below his pelvis at one end to the side of his face on the other. The skeleton lay in one of the 240 graves in the area known as the Jiayi cemetery. The people that lived in the area at the time were part of a Kingdom from 3,000 and 2,000 years ago known as the Subeixi. Prior research has shown the people lived there because it was an oasis in the desert, one that had become an important place for travelers to rest during their trek along the Silk Road.

The researchers note that other examples of cannabis use have been found in the other nearby graves, but not as shrouds—mainly they were simply seeds or just leaves tossed into a grave site before burial. They point out that their find is the first to have full cannabis plants and the first time it has ever been seen used as a shroud. They believe the inclusion of whole plants suggests that the plants were grown locally—also the ripeness of the heads suggested they had been harvested and buried in the latter part of the summer. And because the heads were covered in glandular trichomes, which contain THC, the active ingredient in such plants, they believe that it was normally used as a psychoactive drug.
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Reference:

Phys.org. 2017. “Ancient skeleton covered in cannabis shroud unearthed in China”. Phys.org. Posted: October 6, 2016. Available online: http://phys.org/news/2016-10-ancient-skeleton-cannabis-shroud-unearthed.html

This female skeleton has been discovered at an ancient burial ground on the site of the Queen's Hillsborough Castle residence in Northern Ireland

These are the remains of a well-preserved adult female found in an ancient burial ground at Hillsborough Castle, the Queen’s residence in Northern Ireland where archaeologists believe the cemetery could have been connected to a medieval church which once stood there.

Her skeleton could be 1,000 years old. She was unearthed by volunteers during the first day of digging at the castle, built during the 1780s on grounds now thought to have been used long before medieval times.

Slate roof tiles, nails and mortar discoveries could also be signs of a settlement in Hillsborough before the Georgian village that exists today.

Rosanagh Fuller, of Historic Royal Palaces, says the finds - made with the help of more than 300 local volunteers - are “extremely exciting”. Further analysis is expected to reveal more about a previously unknown part of the castle’s story.
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Reference:

Culture24 Reporter. 2016. “This female skeleton has been discovered at an ancient burial ground on the site of the Queen's Hillsborough Castle residence in Northern Ireland”. Culture24. Posted: August 4, 2016. Available online: http://www.culture24.org.uk/history-and-heritage/archaeology/art559811-hillsborough-castle-northern-ireland-county-down

Skeleton with stone-encrusted teeth found in Mexico ancient ruins

Archeologists have discovered the 1,600-year-old skeleton of an upper-class woman whose skull was intentionally deformed and teeth were encrusted with mineral stones near Mexico's ancient ruins of Teotihuacan.

The woman, between 35 and 40 years old when she died, was buried with 19 jars that served as offerings, the National Anthropology and History Institute said.

Her cranium was elongated by being compressed in a "very extreme" manner, a technique commonly used in the southern part of Mesoamerica, not the central region where she was found, the institute said in a statement.

Although other intentionally deformed skeletons have been found in Teotihuacan, this one—dubbed "The Woman of Tlailotlacan" after the neighborhood where it was found—is among those with the most deformations.

Another distinctive feature, showing the woman was a "foreigner" in Teotihuacan, is the two round pyrite stones encrusted in her top front teeth, a technique used in Mayan regions in southern Mexico and Central America.

She also wore a prosthetic lower tooth made of a green stone known as serpentine.

The enigmatic pre-Hispanic city of Teotihuacan, some 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of Mexico City, thrived between the first and eighth centuries, after which its civilization vanished.

Its two majestic Sun and Moon pyramids are major tourist attractions.
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Reference:

Phys.org. 2016. “Skeleton with stone-encrusted teeth found in Mexico ancient ruins”. Phys.org. Posted: Available online: http://phys.org/news/2016-07-skeleton-stone-encrusted-teeth-mexico-ancient.html

Ancient 'warrior princess' skeleton found in Kazakhstan

Perfectly preserved skeleton found with a huge sword and dagger believed to be a woman living between the 11th century BC and fourth century AD, scientists say

The remains of an ancient female warrior have been discovered in South Kazakhstan.

The perfectly preserved skeleton, believed to be a woman based on the skull's size and shape, was found with a huge sword and dagger.

Archaeologists believe the woman lived in the period between the 11th century BC and fourth century AD. Previously, no records have ever been found of woman warriors in the area.

Experts believe she was a citizen of importance living in the ancient Kanguy state. She is thought to have led a group of nomads who lived somewhere in the area of modern Kazakhstan.

Researchers also found some ancient arrows, a small knife placed close to the right hand of the female warrior and a sword placed close to her left hand indicating that the person was a renowned warrior. Also buried with her were a number of pots and bowls, indicating that the person was probably both wealthy and important.

The find follows 23 years of research in the area, scientists said.

The items will be soon be exhibited in the National Museum of Kazakhstan.
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Reference:

Our Foreign Staff. 2015. “Ancient 'warrior princess' skeleton found in Kazakhstan”. Telegraph. Posted: August 11, 2015. Available online: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/kazakhstan/11797523/Ancient-warrior-princess-skeleton-found-in-Kazakhstan.html

Complete camel skeleton unearthed in Austria

Archaeologists working on a rescue excavation uncovered a complete camel skeleton in Tulln, Lower Austria. The camel, which was dated to the time of the Second Ottoman War in the 17th century, most likely died in the city of Tulln. Genetic analyses showed that the animal was a male hybrid of a dromedary in the maternal line and a Bactrian camel in the paternal line. The find is unique for Central Europe. Archaeozoologists and geneticists from the Vetmeduni Vienna now published their findings in the journal PLOS ONE.

In 2006 construction began on a new shopping centre in Tulln. The works unearthed various archaeologically valuable objects that were salvaged during rescue excavations. Among these objects was also the complete skeleton of a large mammal.

Large mammal uncovered during excavations in Tulln

"The partly excavated skeleton was at first suspected to be a large horse or cattle," says archaeozoologist Alfred Galik from the Institute for Anatomy, Histology and Embryology at the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna. "But one look at the cervical vertebrae, the lower jaw and the metacarpal bones immediately revealed that this was a camel."

Camel bones have been found in Europe dating back to the Roman period. Isolated bones or partly preserved skeletons are known from Mauerbach near Vienna as well as from Serbia and Belgium. But a complete camel skeleton is unique for Central Europe.

"Exotic animal" died in Tulln

In addition to horses, the Ottoman army also used camels for transportation and as riding animals. In cases of scarcity, the soldiers also ate the animal's flesh. But the skeleton found in Tulln was complete. "This means that the animal was not killed and then butchered. It may have been acquired as part of an exchange," says first author Galik. "The animal was certainly exotic for the people of Tulln. They probably didn't know what to feed it or whether one could eat it. Perhaps it died a natural death and was then buried without being used."

Camel was a hybrid

Extensive DNA analysis showed that the animal was a hybrid: its mother was a dromedary and its father a Bactrian camel. The genetic diagnosis confirmed what the scientists saw morphologically. Several of the physical features were that of a dromedary, others of a Bactrian camel. "Such crossbreeding was not unusual at the time. Hybrids were easier to handle, more enduring and larger than their parents. These animals were especially suited for military use," Galik explains.

The camel was male, around seven years old and most likely castrated.

Find dated to the 17th century

Besides animal bones, the excavations also unearthed ceramic plates and other items. A coin -- a so-called "Rechenpfenning" -- from the time of Louis XIV dates the find to the years between 1643 and 1715. A medicinal bottle containing Theriacum, a medieval remedy from the chemist's shop "Apotheke zur Goldenen Krone" in Vienna was also found at the site. This pharmacy existed between 1628 and 1665, which helped date the site with further precision.
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Reference:

Science Daily. 2015. “Complete camel skeleton unearthed in Austria”. Science Daily. Posted: April 1, 2015. Available online: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/04/150401140755.htm

6,500-Year-Old 'Noah' Skeleton Discovered in Museum Basement

Scientists at the Penn Museum in Philadelphia are quite literally cleaning the skeletons out of their closets. Museum staff recently rediscovered a 6,500-year- old human skeleton that's been boxed up in the basement for 85 years. Tucked away in a storeroom, the wooden box had no identifying numbers or catalog card. But a recent effort to digitalize some of the museum's old records brought forth new information about the mysterious box's history and the skeleton, nicknamed "Noah," inside.

The human remains inside the box were originally unearthed between 1929 and 1930 at the site of Ur in modern-day Iraq by Sir Leonard Woolley and his team of archaeologists from the Penn and British Museums, according to the records.

Woolley's excavation is best known for uncovering the famous Mesopotamian "royal cemetery," which included hundreds of graves and 16 tombsladen with cultural artifacts. But the archaeologist and his team also discovered graves that preceded Ur's royal burial ground by about 2,000 years.

In a flood plain, nearly 50 feet (15 meters) below the surface of the site of Ur, the team found 48 graves dating back to the Ubaid period, roughly 5500 B.C. to 4000 B.C. Though remains from this period were extremely rare even in 1929, Woolley decided to recover only one skeleton from the site. He coated the bones and surrounding soil in wax, boxed them up and shipped them to London, then Philadelphia.

A set of lists outlined where the artifacts from the 1929 to 1930 dig were headed — while half of the artifacts remained in Iraq, the others were split between London and Philadelphia. One of the lists stated that the Penn Museum was to receive a tray of mud from the excavation, as well as two skeletons.

But when William Hafford, the project manager responsible for digitalizing the museum's records, saw the list, he was puzzled. One of the two skeletons on the list was nowhere to be found.

Further research into the museum's database revealed the unidentified skeleton had been recorded as "not accounted for" as of 1990. To get to the bottom of this mystery, Hafford began exploring the extensive records left by Woolley himself.

After locating additional information, including images of the missing skeleton, Hafford approached Janet Monge, the Penn Museum's curator of physical anthropology. But Monge, like Hafford, had never seen the skeleton before.

That's when Monge remembered the mysterious box in the basement.

When Monge opened the box later that day, she said it was clear the human remains inside were the same ones listed as being packed up and shipped by Woolley.

The skeleton, she said, likely belonged to a male, 50 years or older, who would have stood somewhere between 5 feet 8 inches (173 centimeters) to 5 feet 10 inches (178 cm) tall. Penn Museum researchers have nicknamed the re-discovered skeleton "Noah," because he is believed to have lived after what archaeological data suggests was a massive flood at the original site of Ur.

New scientific techniques that weren't yet available in Woolley's time could help scientists at the Penn Museum determine much more about the time period to which these ancient remains belonged, including diet, ancestral origins, trauma, stress and diseases.

See the pictures.
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References:

Palermo, Elizabeth. 2014. “6,500-Year-Old 'Noah' Skeleton Discovered in Museum Basement”. Livescience. Posted: August 6, 2014. Available online: http://www.livescience.com/47219-ancient-skeleton-discovered-in-museum-basement.html

Warriors' Bones Reveal Bizarre Iron Age Rituals

The bones of dozens of Iron Age warriors found in Denmark were collected and ritually mutilated after spending months on the battlefield, archaeologists say.

At least six months after the soldiers died, their bones were collected, scraped of remaining flesh, sorted and dumped in a lake. Some were handled in a truly bizarre manner; for instance, four pelvises were found strung on a stick.

"We think it's a kind of ritual closure of the war," said Mads Kähler Holst, project manager at the dig and head of the department of archaeology at the Moesgård Museum in Denmark. The victors seem to have carried out their gruesome work on a spit of land extending into the lake where the bones were dumped, the researchers said.

Bog bodies

The site of the boneyard is in East Jutland, in a wetland area known as Alken Enge. Drainage work and peat digging have been turning up ancient human remains in this bog for decades, Holst told Live Science.

Formal excavation of the site finds it to be a mass grave dating back about 2,000 years, to the transition from B.C. to A.D. At the time, the area was about 186 miles (300 kilometers) north of the farthest reach of the Roman Empire, Holst said, and would have been occupied by Germanic tribes. Archaeologists have turned up at least 60 skeletonsor parts of skeletons in what used to be the bed of Lake Mossø at the site. The lake still exists, but it's smaller than it was 2,000 years ago. The 60 catalogued remains don't include bones found previously — or the many more skeletons archaeologists expect to discover.

"We have trenches going through different areas, so we know we are only touching on a small part of what is actually there," Holst said.

Most of the bones are found disarticulated from one another, and many bear the marks of the battlefield: trauma from swords, spears and axes. Spearheads, an ax, the tip of a sword and shields have also been found at the site, Holst said. All of the bodies are male.

Macabre ritual

All of the evidence points to a straightforward defeat in battle. But the bones also bear strange marks of tampering after the soldiers' death.

First, many have been gnawed by animals, including large predators such as wolves, dogs and badgers, Holst said. The species present and amount of scavenging suggest the bodies stayed out in the open for at least six months to a year, he said.

After this time, someone collected the corpses and sorted at least some of the bones by type. Marks of cutting and scraping suggest the bones were separated deliberately, and that they had any remaining flesh removed. Animal sacrifices and ceramic pots mixed in with the remains suggest some sort of religious ritual, Holst said. Along with the pelvises strung like beads on a stick, there is evidence that leg bones and thighbones were sorted, too, he said.

From a land spit extending into what was then the lake, the ancient people conducted these rituals and then dumped the bones. Holst and his colleagues know nothing for sure about the victors and the slaughtered, but they suspect that the winners had a geographical attachment to the area, given that they were around long enough to conduct these rituals. There are examples of ritual treatment of defeated enemies in what is now France, Switzerland and England in the centuries prior to this find, Holst said, but nothing like it has ever been seen in Denmark or the surrounding areas.

The delay in disposing of the bodies could have been part of the ritual, Holst said. Or, perhaps the battle was part of a longer war, and the winners did not return to the bones until the conflict was over, Holst added.

The findings were announced July 28 by Aarhus University. This season's excavation at the site will continue until Aug. 8.
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References:

Pappas, Stephanie. 2014. “Warriors' Bones Reveal Bizarre Iron Age Rituals”. Livescience. Posted: July 31, 2014. Available online: http://www.livescience.com/47124-warrior-bones-in-danish-bog-mutilated.html

Little too late: Pathogenic bacterium in 700-year-old skeleton identified

Researchers at the University of Warwick, working with Italian anthropologist Raffaella Bianucci and others, have recovered a genome of the bacterium Brucella melitensis from a 700-year-old skeleton found in the ruins of a Medieval Italian village.

Reporting this week in mBio, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology, Warwick Medical School's Professor Mark Pallen and his colleagues describe using a technique called shotgun metagenomics to sequence DNA from a calcified nodule from the pelvic region of a middle-aged male skeleton excavated from the settlement of Geridu in Sardinia, an island off the coast of Italy. Geridu is thought to have been abandoned in the late 14th century. Shotgun metagenomics allows scientists to sequence DNA without looking for a specific target.

From this sample, the researchers recovered the genome of Brucella melitensis, which causes an infection called brucellosis in livestock and humans. In humans, brucellosis is usually acquired by ingesting unpasteurized dairy products or from direct contact with infected animals. Symptoms include fevers, arthritis and swelling of the heart and liver. The disease is still found in the Mediterranean region.

"Normally when you think of calcified material in human or animal remains you think about tuberculosis, because that's the most common infection that leads to calcification," says Professor Pallen, PhD. "We were a bit surprised to get Brucella instead."

The skeleton contained 32 hardened nodules the size of a penny in the pelvic area, though Pallen says it's unclear if they originated in the pelvis, or higher up in the chest or other body part.

In additional experiments, the research team showed that the DNA fragments extracted had the appearance of aged DNA -- they were shorter than contemporary strands, and had characteristic mutations at the ends. They also found that the medieval Brucella strain, which they called Geridu-1, was closely related to a recent Brucella strain called Ether, identified in Italy in 1961, and two other Italian strains identified in 2006 and 2007.

Pallen and others have used shotgun metagenomics before to detect pathogens in contemporary and historical human material. Last summer, he and his colleagues published a report in the New England Journal of Medicine describing the recovery of tuberculosis genomes from the lung tissue of a 215-year-old mummy from Hungary. His team also has identified the outbreak strain genome using metagenomics on stool samples from a 2011 E. coli outbreak in Germany.

Pallen's team is now testing the technique on a range of additional samples, including historical material from Hungarian mummies; Egyptian mummies; a Korean mummy from the 16th or 17th century; and lung tissue from a French queen from the Merovingian dynasty, which ruled France from the 5th to 8th centuries; as well as contemporary sputum samples from the Gambia.

"Metagenomics stands ready to document past and present infections, shedding light on the emergence, evolution and spread of microbial pathogens," Pallen says. "We're cranking through all of these samples and we're hopeful that we're going to find new things."
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References:

Science Daily. 2014. “Little too late: Pathogenic bacterium in 700-year-old skeleton identified”. Science Daily. Posted: July 15, 2014. Available online: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/07/140715085149.htm

How Bones Can Reveal Child Abuse

By the time relatives found 19-month-old DeVarion Gross concealed inside an 18-gallon storage container in his mother's closet, his body was too decomposed for investigators to determine how he had died.

They did, however, find other damning evidence that contributed to his mother's 2010 conviction in North Carolina: DeVarion had three rib fractures at different stages of healing — evidence of a history of abuse.

"If he hadn't been decomposed, we probably would not have seen any of them," said Ann Ross, an anthropologist at North Carolina State University who examined DeVarion's remains. "Most likely they would not have shown up on regular X-ray."

Rib fractures indicate abuse, since children DeVarion's age rarely suffer this injury in any other way, Ross said.

With fellow anthropologist Chelsey Juarez, Ross has published an overview of forensic research on child abuse and starvation with a focus on skeletal injuries. The goal: justice for victims and protection for others, whose abuse can be identified and stopped before the child arrives on an autopsy table.

About 9.2 children per 1,000 in the United States were victims of child abuse in 2012, while 2.1 per 100,000 lost their lives to it in 2011, according to annual data. But some researchers think these numbers don't tell the whole story.

Child abuse and neglect can be difficult for doctors and forensic investigators to catch. For instance, bone injuries like DeVarion's are difficult to diagnose, particularly in young children, because these injuries heal quickly. What's more, abused children usually don't get medical attention until they are seriously injured, and, if they do get treatment, a doctor must determine if a caretaker's explanation is plausible given the injuries, Ross said.

DeVarion's rib fractures fit into one of the common abuse patterns — thoracic, or upper torso, injuries — described by Ross and Juarez. Rib fractures in children under 3 years old are rare, partly because a young child's thoracic region is extremely flexible. As a result, rib fractures in young children are a strong sign of abuse.

For DeVarion, two rib fractures had nearly healed and one was in a very early state of healing. These injuries would likely have escaped X-ray detection while he was still alive, and an X-ray scan done after the discovery of his body, while it was still covered in plastic bags, did not reveal any acute injury. But the advanced state of decomposition of his body allowed Ross to examine his bones directly, where she found the three healing fractures.

Another common pattern, called shaken baby syndrome, is associated with bleeding and swelling of the brain as well as hemorrhages in the retina at the back of the eye. However, there is a controversy over shaken baby syndrome; some argue that shaking alone cannot produce these injuries and that some other form of impact must also be a factor, according to Ross.

In addition to violence, the researchers address another form of abuse: neglect, specifically starvation. This kind of abuse typically accompanies so-called medical neglect. As a result, children suffering these abuses almost never show up in doctors' offices.

Ross and Juarez recommend using bone mineral-density scans, in which X-rays measure how much calcium and other minerals a section of bone contains, to determine if a child experienced starvation before dying. Bone mineral density normally increases with age, but malnourishment reduces bone density.

As a forensic anthropologist and a mother, Ross finds children's cases completely consuming. "These are little, innocent children that didn't have a choice. They didn't have a choice on who their mother was. They didn't have a choice on their circumstances," she said. An investigator's job is to present the facts, "so you are speaking for that innocent" child.

Ross and Juarez's work was published online Jan. 28 in the journal Forensic Science, Medicine and Pathology.
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References:

Parry, Wynne. 2014. “How Bones Can Reveal Child Abuse”. Live Science. Posted: February 19, 2014. Available online: http://www.livescience.com/43480-bones-reveal-child-abuse.html

Bones of Father of Europe Found

Bones from Charlemagne's golden casket in Aachen Cathedral in Germany likely do belong to the warrior-king, say Swiss and German scientists who have studied the remains for 26 years.

"It might appear as an obvious conclusion but it isn't. Charlemagne was exhumed and reburied many times with parts of his body given away as relics, so identifying his skeleton is not an easy task," Frank Rühli, Head of the Center for Evolutionary Medicine at the University of Zurich in Switzerland, told Discovery News.

Rühli and colleagues announced the results of their research last week, 1,200 years after Charlemagne's death.

"The bones appear to belong to a single individual, an old and rather tall man. This matches contemporary descriptions of Charlemagne," Rühli said.

Charlemagne managed to forge the first empire in Europe after the demise of the Roman Empire. He died, possibly of pleurisy, after having ruled as Emperor for just over 13 years. Buried in the German Cathedral the same day as his death, on Jan. 18, 814, the father of Europe has not really rested in peace.

His tomb was first opened by the Emperor Otto III in the year 1000. According to contemporary chronicles, as Otto entered the underground chamber, he was struck by the vision of Charlemagne seated upon a throne, wearing a golden crown and holding a scepter, his fingernails sticking out the gloves.

"He had not lost any of his members to decay, except only the tip of his nose. Emperor Otto replaced this with gold, took a tooth from Charles's mouth, walled up the entrance to the chamber and withdrew," the Chronicle of Novalesia, written about 1026, reported.

In 1165, Frederick I, also known as Barbarossa, re-opened the tomb, displayed the remains as holy relics, then buried Charles in a marble sarcophagus beneath the floor of the cathedral. Fifty years later, Frederick II re-interred him in a casket made of gold and silver.

In 1349, some of Charlemagne's bones were removed and kept as relics by Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV. After five undisturbed centuries, the founder of the Holy Roman Empire was exhumed again in 1861 for research purposes.

Scientists reconstructed the skeletal remains and came to understand what may have been behind the emperor's names: Charlemagne or Carolus Magnus (meaning "Charles the Great" as well as "Charles the Big"). His skeleton suggested he was surprisingly tall for his time.

In 1988, scientists secretly opened his sarcophagus one more time to reveal 94 bones and bone fragments. The researchers also discovered bones in a golden bust that were believed to belong to the famous leader.

More recently, in 2010, Church authorities made available to Rühli and colleagues the left tibia from the Shrine.

X-rays and CT scan analysis confirmed that Charlemagne was indeed a tall man, standing about 1.84 meters (6 feet) tall.

"He must have towered over 98 out of a 100 persons in his time," Rühli said.

Oddly, Charles's father, known as Pepin the Short, was just around 5 feet tall.

Analyzing the bone, Rühli and Australian colleague Maciej Henneberg also discovered that Charlemagne may have been thin. However, no serious illness was detected in the bones.

See Pictures at: http://news.discovery.com/history/bones-of-charlemagne-confirmed-photos-140205.htm
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References:

Lorenzi, Rossella. 2014. “Bones of Father of Europe Found”. Discovery News. . Posted: February 5, 2014. Available online: http://news.discovery.com/history/father-of-europes-bones-found-140205.htm

Boy’s Skeleton In Siberia Raises New Questions About First Americans

Results from a DNA study of a young boy’s skeletal remains believed to be 24,000 years old could turn the archaeological world upside down – it’s been proven that nearly 30 percent of modern Native American’s ancestry came from this youngster’s gene pool, suggesting First Americans came directly from Siberia, according to a research team that includes a Texas A&M University professor.

Kelly Graf, assistant professor in the Center for the Study of First Americans and Department of Anthropology at Texas A&M, is part of an international team spearheaded by Eske Willerslev and Maanasa Raghaven from the Centre for GeoGenetics at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark and additional researchers from Sweden, Russia, United Kingdom, University of Chicago and University of California-Berkeley. Their work, funded by the Danish National Science Foundation, Lundbeck Foundation, and the National Science Foundation, is published in the current issue of Nature magazine.

Graf and Willerslev conceived the project and traveled to the Hermitage State Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, where the remains are now housed to collect samples for ancient DNA.  The skeleton was first discovered in the late 1920s near the village of Mal’ta in south-central Siberia, and since then it has been referred to as “the Mal’ta child” because until this DNA study the biological sex of the skeleton was unknown.

“Now we can say with confidence that this individual was a male” says Graf.

Graf helped extract DNA material from the boy’s upper arm and “the results surprised all of us quite a bit,” she explains.

“It shows he had close genetic ties to today’s Native Americans and some western Eurasians, specifically some groups living in central Asia, South Asia, and Europe. Also, he shared close genetic ties with other Ice-Age western Eurasians living in European Russia, Czech Republic and even Germany. We think these Ice-Age people were quite mobile and capable of maintaining a far-reaching gene pool that extended from central Siberia all the way west to central Europe.”

Another significant result of the study is that the Mal’ta boy’s people were also ancestors of Native Americans, explaining why some early Native American skeletons such as Kennewick Man were interpreted to have some European traits.

“Our study proves that Native Americans ancestors migrated to the Americas from Siberia and not directly from Europe as some have recently suggested,” Graf explains.

The DNA work performed on the boy is the oldest complete genome of a human sequenced so far, the study shows.  Also found near the boy’s remains were flint tools, a beaded necklace and what appears to be pendant-like items, all apparently placed in the burial as grave goods.

The discovery raises new questions about the timing of human entry in Alaska and ultimately North America, a topic hotly debated in First Americans studies.

“Though our results cannot speak directly to this debate, they do indicate Native American ancestors could have been in Beringia—extreme northeastern Russia and Alaska—any time after 24,000 years ago and therefore could have colonized Alaska and the Americas much earlier than 14,500 years ago, the age suggested by the archaeological record.”

“What we need to do is continue searching for earlier sites and additional clues to piece together this very big puzzle.”
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References:

Tamu Times. 2014. “Boy’s Skeleton In Siberia Raises New Questions About First Americans”. Tamu Times. Posted: November 20, 2013. Available online: http://tamutimes.tamu.edu/2013/11/20/boys-skeleton-in-siberia-raises-new-questions-about-first-americans/#.Uq4sK4

Written on her bones: the life of a Mixtec woman

A study of the skeleton of a young Mixtec woman who lived in the Late Post Classic period (A.D. 1250-1540) in Mexico, has revealed a range of both genetic diseases and work related skeletal damage. The results are now part of an exhibition in the Regional Historical Museum of Ensenada, Baja California called Itandikaa Ndiko’o Flor de la eternidad (Itandikaa Ndiko’o - Flower of Eternity).

Physical anthropologist Martha Alfaro Castro and a teams of doctors from the Civil Hospital of Oaxaca who are specialists in genetics, orthopaedics, radiology and dentistry, conducted an interdisciplinary study of the skeleton, found in 2007 in the Mixteca Alta of Oaxaca during a rescue excavation.

The different phases of the analysis, as well as some of the major pathologies detected in the skeletal remains, are presented in 37 photographs as well as seven watercolours created by Oaxacan artist Arrona Ernesto Santiago and acrylic on bark paper by Juan Francisco Lopez Ruiz.

Genetic syndrome

The archaeological materials were transferred to the laboratory of the Centro INAH Oaxaca Osteology, where anthropologist Alfaro Castro performed the analysis of the skeletal remains.

“She suffered a genetic syndrome known as Klippel-Feil Syndrome, that usually causes facial asymmetry and merging of some cervical vertebrae, with the consequent shortening of the neck and mobility limitation in this anatomic region,”  explained Alfaro.

“She also presented a deformation of the shoulder blades, caled Sprengel Deformation , responsible for further asymmetry of the shoulders that gave the women the appearance of having one shoulder higher than the other”  the researcher concluded.

An active life

The osteological evidence, the archaeological context and ethnohistoric sources indicate that women probably belonged to a lower social stratum and despite the health problems associated with the genetic syndrome had an active life and performed a variety of physical tasks from a very early age.

There is osteological evidence to suggest that she was carrying heavy loads on her back with the help of a band or backstrap – which caused vertebrae compression (see painting above).  She also spent much of her time squatting or kneeling which corresponds to tasks such as shelling corn and maize cobs, as well as preparing clay for pottery making, which caused some changes in bones in the region of the knee and feet.

“Normally we see the elite of the society, but here we can meet and appreciate the life and work of an ordinary person from the Mixtec culture.” said Alfaro Castro.

The exhibition is presented in the city of Ensenada on the initiative of the director of the Baja California INAH Centre, archaeologist Bendímez Julia Patterson, and the director of the Regional Historical Museum of Ensenada, Mario Acevedo Andrade, with the purpose of making aspects of ancient cultures of the south such as the Mixteca more accessible.

Exhibition

The exhibition will be at the Regional Historical Museum of Ensenada, until January 2014, the site is located in avenue Gastelum s/n, Ensenada, Baja California.
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References:

Past Horizons. 2013. “Written on her bones: the life of a Mixtec woman”. Past Horizons. Posted: November 10, 2013. Available online: http://www.pasthorizonspr.com/index.php/archives/11/2013/written-on-her-bones-the-life-of-a-mixtec-woman

European Roots for Native Americans?

An analysis of ancient DNA from a 24,000-year-old Siberian skeleton generates a new model for the original peopling of the Western Hemisphere.

Native Americans may not have descended from East Asians who crossed the Bering Land Bridge more than 15,000 years ago, according to a new genomic analysis of a millennia-old Siberian skeleton. A portion of the nuclear DNA recovered from the upper arm bone of a 4-year-old boy that was buried near the Siberian village of Mal’ta about 24,000 years ago is shared by modern Native Americans and no other group. But the boy appears to have been descended from people of European or western Asian origin.

Eske Willerslev, a University of Copenhagen ancient DNA expert, announced the findings last week at the Paleoamerican Odyssey conference in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and the resulting manuscript is in press at Nature. In addition to finding genome regions shared by modern Native Americans, he and collaborator Kelly Graf of Texas A&M University found that the boy’s Y chromosome and mitochondrial DNA belonged to haplogroups that are found almost exclusively in Europeans and people living in Asia west of the Altai Mountains.

Conspicuously absent from the child’s DNA, however, was any connection to modern East Asians, a genetic relationship present in the genomes of virtually all Native Americans. This means that the population from which the boy came must have included ancestors of modern Native Americans, upsetting the popular belief that the original inhabitants of North, Central, and South America descended directly from East Asians.

According to Science, Willerslev and Graf suggest that at some point before 24,000 years ago, the ancestors of modern Native Americans and those of East Asians split into two genetically distinct groups. The Mal’ta boy belonged to a population that migrated to Siberia from Eurasia and mixed with the second before the newly formed population moved into the New World, eventually populating the Americas.

Previously, the presence of European DNA in the modern Native American genome was attributed to interbreeding after Europeans made contact. This new finding may turn that supposition on its head. “The west Eurasian [genetic] signatures that we very often find in today's Native Americans don't all come from postcolonial admixture,” Willerslev said during his presentation. “Some of them are ancient.”

Though reconstructing humanity’s westward expansion into the New World involves some speculation, recovering the intact DNA of the Mal’ta boy represents a technological feat: his is oldest complete genome of a modern human sequenced to date.
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References:

Grant, Bob. 2013. “European Roots for Native Americans?”. The Scientist. Posted: October 29, 2013. Available online: http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/38061/title/European-Roots-for-Native-Americans-/

Skeleton of Ancient Prince Reveals Etruscan Life

The skeletonized body of an Etruscan prince, possibly a relative to Tarquinius Priscus, the legendary fifth king of Rome from 616 to 579 B.C., has been brought to light in an extraordinary finding that promises to reveal new insights on one of the ancient world’s most fascinating cultures.

Found in Tarquinia, a hill town about 50 miles northwest of Rome, famous for its Etruscan art treasures, the 2,600 year old intact burial site came complete with a full array of precious grave goods.

“It’s a unique discovery, as it is extremely rare to find an inviolate Etruscan tomb of an upper-class individual. It opens up huge study opportunities on the Etruscans,” Alessandro Mandolesi, of the University of Turin, told Discovery News. Mandolesi is leading the excavation in collaboration with the Archaeological Superintendency of Southern Etruria.

A fun loving and eclectic people who among other things taught the French how to make wine, the Romans how to build roads, and introduced the art of writing into Europe, the Etruscans began to flourish around 900 B.C., and dominated much of Italy for five centuries.

Known for their art, agriculture, fine metalworking and commerce, the Etruscans begun to decline during the fifth century B.C., as the Romans grew in power. By 300-100 B.C., they eventually became absorbed into the Roman empire.

Since their puzzling, non-Indo-European language was virtually extinguished (they left no literature to document their society), the Etruscans have long been considered one of antiquity's great enigmas.

Indeed, much of what we know about them comes from their cemeteries. Only the richly decorated tombs they left behind have provided clues to fully reconstruct their history.

Blocked by a perfectly sealed stone slab, the rock-cut tomb in Tarquinia appeared promising even before opening it.

Indeed, several objects, including jars, vases and even a grater, were found in the soil in front of the stone door, indicating that a funeral rite of an important person took place there.

As the heavy stone slab was removed, Mandolesi and his team were left breathless. In the small vaulted chamber, the complete skeleton of an individual was resting on a stone bed on the left. A spear lay along the body, while fibulae, or brooches, on the chest indicated that the individual, a man, was probably once dressed with a mantle.

At his feet stood a large bronze basin and a dish with food remains, while the stone table on the right might have contained the incinerated remains of another individual.

Decorated with a red strip, the upper part of the wall featured, along with several nails, a small hanging vase, which might have contained some ointment. A number of grave goods, which included large Greek Corinthian vases and precious ornaments, lay on the floor.

“That small vase has been hanging on the wall for 2,600 years. It’s amazing,” Lorenzo Benini, CEO of the company Kostelia, said.

Along with Pietro Del Grosso of the company Tecnozenith, Benini is the private investor who has largely contributed to the excavation.

Although intact, the tomb has suffered a small natural structural collapse, the effects of which are visible in some broken vases.

Mandolesi and his team believe the individual was a member of Tarquinia’s ruling family.

The underground chamber was found beside an imposing mound, the Queen Tomb, which is almost identical to an equally impressive mound, the King’s Tomb, 600 feet away.

About 130 feet in diameter, the Queen's Tomb is the largest among the more than 6,000 rock cut tombs (200 of them are painted) that make up the necropolis in Tarquinia. Mandolesi has been excavating it and its surrounding area for the past six years.

Both mounds date to the 7th century B.C., the Orientalizing period, so called due to the influence on the Etruscans from the Eastern Mediterranean.

According to Roman tradition, Demaratus, a Greek from Corinth, landed in Tarquinia as a refugee in the 7th century BC, bringing with him a team of painters and artisans who taught the local people new artistic techniques.

Demaratus then married an Etruscan noblewoman from Tarquinia, and their son, Lucumo, became the fifth king of Rome in 616 B.C., taking the name of Lucius Tarquinius Priscus.

The story emphasizes the importance of Tarquinia as one of the most powerful cities in the Etruscan league.

Indeed, the two imposing mounds would have certainly remarked the power of the princes of Tarquinia to anybody arriving from the sea.

According to Mandolesi, the fact that the newly discovered burial lies a few feet away from the Queen’s Tomb indicate that it belonged to one of the princes of Tarquinia, someone directly related to the owners of the Queen's Tomb.

“The entire area would have been off limits to anybody but the royal family,” Mandolesi said.

“In the next days we are going to catalogue all the objects. Further scientific tests will tell us more about the individual and the tomb,” Mandolesi said.

Discovery News will follow the archaeologists live as they remove the goods from the burial chamber.
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References:

Lorenzi, Rossella. 2013. “Skeleton of Ancient Prince Reveals Etruscan Life”. Discovery News. Posted: September 20, 2013. Available online: http://news.discovery.com/history/archaeology/estruscan-prince-skeleton-rome-130920.htm#mkcpgn=rssnws1

DNA Tests Prove That This Skeleton Is Richard III

This is the follow-up to this post from November 1, 2012.

Scientists in England have announced that they can now conclusively say that a skeleton found under a parking lot in Great Britain last year belongs to the Richard III, the famous king who was killed (without his horse!) more than 500 years ago. Researchers at University of Leicester used archeological evidence and DNA testing of Richard descendants to prove that "Beyond reasonable doubt it's Richard."

The parking lot sat on the site of small church in Leicester where Richard of Gloucester was buried in 1485. When the Church was demolished in the 16th century, the exact location was lost until August of last year, when excavators decided to dig up the lot; one of the few remaining open areas in the city. The bones were found almost immediately and caught the archeologists' eyes, thanks to a severe curvature of the spine. Richard was famously know to have a physical deformity, a feature made legendary by William Shakespeare's play about him—which also painted Richard as a vile schemer, who murdered his brothers, seduced his enemy's widow, and even had two young children locked in the Tower of London (and later executed) in order to claim the throne.

Geneticists working on the research team were able to find a 17th-generation descendant on Richard's mother's side (and carpenter who was born in Canada), and were remarkably also able to pull a useable genetic sample from the remains. Dr. Turi King, the project geneticist said a press conference that DNA test, combined with the other evidence point to the skeleton belong to Richard, both proving that the deformity was real and solving a centuries old mystery about what happened to the dead king.

Richard was killed at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, making him the last English king to die in battle. (In addition to other injuries, the skeleton bore the marks of eight head wounds.) His death also effectively ended the War of the Roses, with Tudor King Henry VII succeeding him on the throne, and marrying Richard's niece to unite the two warring houses.
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References:

Bennett, Dashiell, 2013. "DNA Tests Prove That This Skeleton Is Richard III". The Atlantic Wire. Posted: February 4, 2013. Available online: http://www.theatlanticwire.com/global/2013/02/dna-tests-prove-skeleton-richard-iii/61753/

Ancient Tooth May Provide Evidence of Early Human Dentistry

Researchers may have uncovered new evidence of ancient dentistry in the form of a 6,500-year-old human jaw bone with a tooth showing traces of beeswax filling, as reported Sept. 19 in the open access journal PLOS ONE.

The researchers, led by Federico Bernardini and Claudio Tuniz of the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics in Italy in cooperation with Sincrotrone Trieste and other institutions, write that the beeswax was applied around the time of the individual's death, but cannot confirm whether it was shortly before or after. If it was before death, however, they write that it was likely intended to reduce pain and sensitivity from a vertical crack in the enamel and dentin layers of the tooth.

According to Tuniz, the severe wear of the tooth "is probably also due to its use in non-alimentary activities, possibly such as weaving, generally performed by Neolithic females."

Evidence of prehistoric dentistry is sparse, so this new specimen, found in Slovenia near Trieste, may help provide insight into early dental practices.

"This finding is perhaps the most ancient evidence of pre-historic dentistry in Europe and the earliest known direct example of therapeutic-palliative dental filling so far," says Bernardini.
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References:

Science Daily. 2012. “Ancient Tooth May Provide Evidence of Early Human Dentistry”. Science Daily. Posted: September 19, 2012. Available online: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/09/120919190920.htm

Journal Reference:

Federico Bernardini, Claudio Tuniz, Alfredo Coppa, Lucia Mancini, Diego Dreossi, Diane Eichert, Gianluca Turco, Matteo Biasotto, Filippo Terrasi, Nicola De Cesare, Quan Hua, Vladimir Levchenko. Beeswax as Dental Filling on a Neolithic Human Tooth. PLoS ONE, 2012; 7 (9): e44904 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0044904

Most Complete Pre-Human Skeleton Found

The two million year old skeleton is the "most complete early human ancestor skeleton ever discovered."

South African scientists said Thursday they had uncovered the most complete skeleton yet of an ancient relative of man, hidden in a rock excavated from an archaeological site three years ago.

The remains of a juvenile hominid skeleton, of the Australopithecus (southern ape) sediba species, constitute the "most complete early human ancestor skeleton ever discovered," according to University of Witwatersrand palaeontologist Lee Berger.

"We have discovered parts of a jaw and critical aspects of the body including what appear to be a complete femur (thigh bone), ribs, vertebrae and other important limb elements, some never before seen in such completeness in the human fossil record," said Berger, a lead professor in the finding.

The latest discovery of what is thought to be around two million years old, was made in a three-foot (one meter) wide rock that lay unnoticed for years in a laboratory until a technician noticed a tooth sticking out of the black stone last month.

The technician, Justin Mukanka, said: "I was lifting the block up, I just realized that there is a tooth."

It was then scanned to reveal significant parts of an A. sediba skeleton, dubbed Karabo, whose other other parts were first discovered in 2009. Parts of three other skeletons were discovered in 2008 in the world-famous Cradle of Humankind site north of Johannesburg.

It is not certain whether the species, which had long arms, a small brain and a thumb possibly used for precision gripping, was a direct ancestor of humans' genus, Homo, or simply a close relative.

"It appears that we now have some of the most critical and complete remains of the skeleton," said Berger.

Other team members were equally enthusiastic.

"It's like putting together the pieces of a puzzle," university laboratory manager Bonita De Klerk told AFP.

The skeleton of what has been dubbed Karabo and is thought to date back to around two million years old, would have been aged between nine and 13 years when the upright-walking tree climber died.

Remains of four A. sediba skeletons have been discovered in South Africa's Malapa cave, 30 miles (50 kilometers) north of Johannesburg, since 2008. The individuals are believed to have fallen into a pit in the cave and died.

The sediba fossils are arguably the most complete remains of any hominids found and are possibly one of the most significant palaeoanthropological discoveries in recent time.

The Cradle of Humankind, now a World Heritage Site, is the oldest continuous paleontological dig in the world.

The university also announced it would open up the process of exploring and uncovering fossil remains to the public and stream it online in real time.

A special laboratory studio will be built at the Cradle of Humankind.

"The public will be able to participate fully in live science and future discoveries as they occur in real time -- an unprecedented moment in palaeoanthropology," said Berger.

The lab and the virtual infrastructure are expected to be built within a year, according to Qedani Mahlangu, a regional minister of economic development.

The university is in talks with Shanghai Science and Technology Museum in China, Britain's Natural History Museum and the Smithsonian in the United States to set up virtual outposts for the live science project.
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References:

AFP. 2012. "Most Complete Pre-Human Skeleton Found". Discovery News. Posted: July 13, 2012. Available online: http://news.discovery.com/history/skeleton-most-complete-found-ancient-ancestor-man-120713.html

Examining the Mystery of Skeleton, Sugar and Sex

THE HYPOTHESIS Bones help regulate fertility in men.

THE INVESTIGATOR Dr. Gerard Karsenty, Columbia University.

For years, scientists thought they understood the skeleton. It serves as structural support for the body. It stores calcium and phosphate. It contributes to blood cell development. And it serves, indispensably, as the creepy mascot of Halloween.

But as it turns out, there may be still more to bone.

A few years ago, researchers at Columbia University Medical Center discovered, to everyone’s surprise, that the skeleton seems to help regulate blood sugar. Now the team, led by Dr. Gerard Karsenty, geneticist and endocrinologist at Columbia University, has found that bone may play an unexpected role in reproduction. If the work pans out, it may help to explain some cases of low fertility in men.

“It’s definitely an attention-grabber,” Dr. William Crowley of Harvard Medical School, who was not involved in the research, said of the new finding regarding fertility. “I think it will turn out to be a seminal observation.” (No pun intended, presumably.)

It is well known that the hormones estrogen and testosterone, produced in the ovaries and testes, help to regulate bone growth. When women reach menopause, estrogen levels decrease along with bone mass, putting them at increased risk for osteoporosis. As men age, their testosterone and estrogen levels decline, as well. Men lose bone, but much more slowly than women do.

“We thought that if the sex organs talk to the skeleton, then the skeleton should talk back to the sex organs,” Dr. Karsenty said.

Apparently it does.

Early this year, Dr. Karsenty’s team published a study demonstrating that in mice a protein called osteocalcin, which is produced by bone-forming cells called osteoblasts, binds to a specific receptor on cells of the testes. Male mice that were unable to make osteocalcin (as a result of genetic manipulation) produced less testosterone and were less fertile. When they mated, they had fewer and smaller offspring.

Fertility in female mice, on the other hand, was not affected by osteocalcin. Cells in their ovaries lacked the receptors to which the bone hormone binds.

“We were surprised by that,” said Dr. Karsenty. “We thought we’d find a hormone that regulated fertility in both sexes.” Another compound, as yet unknown, may play the analogous role in females, he added.

Human testicular cells also have receptors for the hormone osteocalcin, Dr. Karsenty has found.

“I don’t know of any hormone that functions in mice but not to some extent in humans,” said Thomas Clemens, a researcher at Johns Hopkins University.

Still, the magnitude of the effect may not be the same as in mice.

The main hormone that stimulates testosterone production, in mice and men, is luteinizing hormone, a protein made in the brain. Luteinizing hormone is “the on-off switch” for testosterone, said Dr. Crowley. Osteocalcin, on the other hand, looks more like a “dimmer switch” that modulates the process.

The question: Is it a critical mechanism or a backup system? Does osteocalcin play a widespread role in problems like low sperm count and low testosterone, or is it more peripheral?

Scientists now plan to study men with these problems and to measure their osteocalcin levels, said Dr. Crowley. Some of them may have a defect in osteocalcin or its receptor that underlies their conditions.

But, he said, “I suspect this will turn out to be one chapter in an interesting and more complicated mystery.”

Dr. Karsenty has long argued that bone plays a central role in regulating body physiology. “The body is not an assembly of silos that don’t speak to each other, but is full of surprising examples of crosstalk,” he said.

In 2007, he showed that bone helps to regulate blood sugar, a result that startled hormone specialists. Working with mice, he reported that osteocalcin boosts insulin production in the pancreas and also increases insulin sensitivity (making the body more responsive to the hormone). Insulin, in turn, acts to lower blood sugar.

That work could prove relevant to diabetes, in which the body either does not produce enough insulin or stops heeding its directives. As a result, blood glucose levels become too high.

Now, Dr. Karsenty hopes to unravel the complicated links binding the skeleton, sugar and sex. Bone mass tends to decline with age, he notes, as do blood sugar control and fertility.

“One idea is that bone might not just be a victim of aging,” he said. “It might also be a contributor.”
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References:

Schaffer, Amanda. 2011. "Examining the Mystery of Skeleton, Sugar and Sex". New York Times. Posted: August 22, 2011. Available online: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/23/health/23bone.html?_r=1

Hips don't lie: Researchers find more accurate technique to determine sex of skeletal remains

Research from North Carolina State University offers a new means of determining the sex of skeletal human remains – an advance that may have significant impacts in the wake of disasters, the studying of ancient remains and the criminal justice system.

Historically, forensic scientists have been able to determine the sex of skeletal remains by visually evaluating the size and shape of the pelvis, or os coxa. "This technique is accurate, but is not without its limitations," says Dr. Ann Ross, associate professor of sociology and anthropology at NC State and co-author of a paper describing the research.

"For example," Ross says, "when faced with fragmentary remains of the os coxa, it can be difficult to determine the deceased person's sex based solely on visual inspection. This can be a significant challenge when evaluating remains from disasters – such as plane crashes – or degraded remains in mass burials – whether the burials date from prehistory or 20th century political violence."

But Ross and her colleague Dr. Joan Bytheway have now used three-dimensional imaging technology to effectively quantify the specific characteristics of the os coxa that differentiate males from females. Bytheway is an assistant professor of forensic science at Sam Houston State University.

The researchers found more than 20 anatomical "landmarks" on the os coxa that can be used to determine a body's sex. Finding so many landmarks is important, Ross says, because it means that the sex of a body can be ascertained even if only a small fragment of the pelvis can be found. In other words, even if only 15 percent of the pelvis is recovered, it is likely that at least a few of the landmarks can be found on that fragment.

Here's how it would work: a forensic scientist would use a digitizer to create a 3-D map of the pelvic fragment and measure the relevant anatomical landmarks. The scientist could then determine the sex of the remains by comparing those measurements to the measurements listed in the paper by Bytheway and Ross.

"This technique also has the benefit of being significantly more accurate than traditional visual inspections," Ross says. While determining sex based on visual inspections of os coxa have an accuracy rate of approximately 90 percent, the new technique from Ross and Bytheway has an accuracy rate of 98 percent or better. The researchers found, for example, that several anatomical landmarks commonly used in visual inspection to estimate sex are actually very poor indicators of sex.

The new technique could also have significant benefits in the courtroom. Obviously the improved accuracy is important, but so is the fact that the method relies on quantifiable metric data – not an opinion. This is an important distinction under the federal rules of evidence that govern what evidence can be submitted in criminal court.

The researchers are planning to incorporate their findings into the National Institute of Justice's 3D-ID program. The 3D-ID program consists of software that allows forensic scientists to plug in data on skeletal remains and determine the sex and ancestral origin of those remains.
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References:

EurekAlert. 2010. "Hips don't lie: Researchers find more accurate technique to determine sex of skeletal remains". EurekAlert. Posted: July 6, 2010. Available online: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-07/ncsu-hdl070610.php