EAPSI: Improving the identification of Japanese individuals in forensic contexts

Tallman Sean D, Knoxville TN

Investigators

Abstract

Subsequent to deaths resulting from natural disasters, armed conflicts, and homicides, the identification of decedents is paramount and depends on the accuracy of the scientific methods employed in the biological profile (sex, age, ancestry, and stature of skeletonized remains). However, most biological profile methods were developed in North America on individuals of African and European descent, and it is unlikely that such methods can generate accurate biological profiles for Asian individuals. Moreover, Native Americans historically served as biological proxies for Asians due to their shared genetic history, resulting in the largely untested assumption that Native Americans and Asians share nonmetric skeletal features. The continued reliance on methods developed from non-Asian populations is especially problematic in forensic contexts where Asian remains are likely to be recovered (i.e., large U.S. cities and international humanitarian settings). This project will statistically test and refine the nonmetric methods used in sex and ancestry assessment for adults in the Chiba University skeletal collection, curated by Dr. Yoshiharu Mastuno, which represents one of the few documented anatomical collections in Asia. The proposed research will contribute to the development of more quantifiable and replicable methods necessary to increase the accuracy of biological profiles and identifications for an understudied East Asian population. As sex is reliably determined from the presence or shape of traits on the skull, clavicle, humerus, and pelvis, these traits will be assessed and assigned an ordinal score based on their robust or gracile expression. The scores and documented sexes will be analyzed statistically to identify the traits that best indicate male or female, and to compare the sexual dimorphism observed in Japanese individuals to North American populations. Additionally, nonmetric cranial traits commonly used to identify Native Americans will be assigned an ordinal scored to test the hypothesis that Japanese individuals differ from Native Americans in their trait expressions and frequencies. This NSF EAPSI award is funded in collaboration with the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.