Maria Teresa Ferreira

University of Coimbra | UC · Centre for Funtional Ecology, Department of Life Sciences

Assessing biological profile is a primary objective of forensic anthropologists. Since skeletal differences exist for sex, age-at-death, ancestry and stature, a wide range of morphological and metric methods have been developed over the past decades. However, these methods should be population specific whenever possible to enhance accuracy. This is...

Introduction: In Portugal, it is common practice to reuse burial graves in cemeteries with exhumations occurring after a minimum period of three years after entombment. However, if the human remains still retain soft tissues when the grave is opened, inhumations must continue for successive periods of two years until complete skeletonization is ach...

Postmortem interval (PMI) estimation represents a significant challenge in the forensic sciences, particularly when dealing with human skeletal remains. A screening protocol for distinguishing possible remains of forensic interest is a crucial tool for judicial purposes. In this context, luminol chemiluminescence emerges as a promising method, with...

A estimativa do sexo biológico em remanescentes humanos esqueletizados não identificados é fundamental no estabelecimento do perfil biológico, um passo crítico no processo de identificação. A avaliação do sexo biológico assume diferenças fenotípicas, observadas para o tamanho e forma dos ossos, entre indivíduos do sexo feminino e masculino. Em muit...

Terceira island bullfights by rope are secular events integrated in the regional seasonal festivities. This tradition involves running several bulls down a street while they are held with a rope by several men, ensuring the bulls stay within defined limits. Participants can either watch from a safe place or actively engage by running or evading the...

Chirurgical amputation is a risky life-saving medical procedure that often impacts the mobility and quality of life of patients. Given the scarcity of skeletal remains from amputated body parts for paleopathological research, this study aims to provide novel insights into this topic. In the Azores archipelago the anatomical specimens resulting from...

A Morfometria Geométrica é um conjunto de métodos quantitativos usado para testar e visualizar diferenças de tamanho e forma de objetos, organismos e estruturas biológicas. O objetivo principal deste trabalho é fornecer um guia prático abrangente, com os procedimentos técnicos e estatísticos fundamentais para realizar uma análise desse tipo. Com es...

Objectives Burned bone coloration has been used for decades to help in the bioanthropological analysis of burned human bones. However, there is a variety of factors that can interfere with the coloration manifested by bones exposed to heat, resulting in colors that differ from the usual black to white gradient. In this study, we evaluated possible...

Age assessment of migrants is crucial, particularly for unaccompanied foreign minors, a population facing legal, social, and humanitarian challenges. Despite existing guidelines, there is no unified protocol in Europe for age assessment. The Forensic Anthropology Society of Europe (FASE) conducted a comprehensive questionnaire to understand age est...

Estimating age at death is essential to establish biological profiles from human skeletal remains in both forensic and archeological settings. Imaging studies of skeletal age changes in adults have described the metamorphosis of trabecular bone structure and bone loss in the proximal femur as well as changes in morphology during different stages of...

At the beginning of the Portuguese maritime expansion (15th century), ships loaded with various goods, including sub‐Saharan enslaved individuals, began to arrive in Portugal. In 2009, osteoarchaeological remains of these individuals were recovered for the first time in Valle da Gafaria, Lagos. Attending to their African origin and given that sever...

Over the last decade, some Portuguese cemeteries have started to have issues with the lack of burial space, mainly due to the slow rate of cadaveric decomposition, hindering the reuse of soil graves as is common practice. To better understand the influence of soil on human taphonomy and help in cemetery management, the main goal of this research wa...

Postmortem interval (PMI) estimation constitutes a challenge for forensic anthropologists. The application of the luminol technique as a preliminary test for PMI estimation is considered easy to use and inexpensive. The objective of our study is to validate luminol chemiluminescence testing through the assessment of intra- and interobserver error....

The estimation of the postmortem interval (PMI) is one of the key challenges for forensic anthropologists. Although there are several methods referenced for this purpose, none is sufficiently effective. One of the main reasons justifying the complexity of this task is the influence of several taphonomic factors. The study of the Luminol technique h...

Estimating age at death is essential to establish a biological profile from human skeletal remains in both forensic and archeological settings. Imaging studies of skeletal age changes in adults have described metamorphosis of trabecular bone structure and bone loss in the proximal femur , as well as changes in morphology during different stages of...

As diversas coleções de esqueletos identificados, dispersas pelo mundo, são essenciais à antropologia forense. Com base nos dados biográficos dos indivíduos que as compõe, é possível desenvolver e adaptar métodos de identificação. Portugal conta com uma parte significativa dessas coleções, sendo as mais recentes compostas por esqueletos de indivídu...

Factors involving bone degradation after burial in the Azores

In Portugal, no one is obliged to be an organ donor. For this reason, in 1994, the Registo Nacional de Não Dadores (RENNDA – National Register of Non-Donors) was established for those who would like to oppose organ and/or tissue donation after death. Therefore, all public and private hospitals, and legal medicine institutes which carry out postmort...

Potential secular changes in the human scapula are fundamentally unbeknownst, with most of the preceding anatomical studies focusing on long-term changes in the long bones and the skull. As such, the cardinal purpose of this study pertains to the evaluation of secular trends on the shape and size of the scapula in a time period spanning from the 19...

Access to better health care anticipates that more medical devices can be found alongside skeletal remains. Those employed in oral rehabilitation, with available brands or batch/series, can prove useful in the identification process. A previous study in the Colecção de Esqueletos Identificados Século XXI described macroscopically the dental prosthe...

On 19 March 2020, a “state of emergency” was declared in Portugal due to the manifestation of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), with an exponential rate of infection and high mortality and morbidity rates. Since then, the state of emergency was declared a further fifteen times until 30 April 2021, during which a tota...

Sexual dimorphism is the basis for sex estimation research in skeletal remains, helping the positive identification of individuals in forensic backgrounds. In this regard, it has been proved that the metrical analysis of the costal neck of the first four ribs in Spanish contemporary adult skeletons shows high sexual dimorphism, especially in the fi...

Objectives: The analysis of burned human remains can be very challenging due to heat-induced alterations. Occasionally, human bones present these coupled with diagenetic changes, offering even more of a challenge, since there is a lack of studies regarding interactions between both taphonomic phenomena. With this study, we aimed to assess and docu...

The estimation of the postmortem interval (PMI), particularly the late time since death, is a crucial issue when dealing with human remains. Its establishment is an important task for forensic scientists since it has important legal implications such as identifying a victim or prosecuting an offender. However, dating death is a very complex and cha...

The estimation of biological sex is of paramount relevance in the analysis of skeletal remains recovered in forensic contexts. This study aims to assess sexual dimorphism for identification purposes, from two reference samples of the Portuguese population, and a depiction of the size- and shape-related sexual dimorphism of the human scapula using g...

Bakeng se Afrika is an international project (2019-2022) co-founded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union and had the main goal of developing a digital repository of human skeletal remains. This project was possible due to the association of six higher education institutions (Universiteit Leuven) and the South African Nuclear Energy Corpo...

A avaliação da osteopatologia, numa perícia de Antropologia Forense, assume-se como uma análise fundamental para reconstruir a identidade dos restos humanos e compreender a causa e circunstância da morte a eles associados (Cunha, 2014). Numa primeira fase avaliam-se os quatro parâmetros do perfil biológico, nomeadamente, a ancestralidade, sexo, ida...

Cemeteries from the European Romantic period (18th–19th centuries) are often compared to small cities that hold memories, art, and history. Portuguese public cemeteries were first established in 1835 and became an interesting combination of fauna, flora, and monumental sculptures to mourn the dead at a location outside the limits of the city. Over...

From palaeopathology to forensic taphonomy, human mummified bodies constitute biological archives of paramount importance. Toxicology analysis of endobiotics and xenobiotics has already shown value to archaeological mummies research with the detection of heavy metals, sedative-hypnotic drugs, and stimulants. Thanks to the large window of drug detec...

Sex estimation is the primary source of information in the analysis of skeletal remains, providing information to other parameters of biological profile, such as age-at-death and stature. In most forensic cases the most dimorphic bones are recovered in an incomplete and/or fragmented state, which difficult the sex evaluation of non-identified indiv...

Estimation of age-at-death of human skeletal remains is important in palaeo-demographic studies since it allows establishing mortality patterns and life conditions. In adult skeletons, this task is particularly difficult and presents imprecise results due to not only the frequent poor preservation of the remains but also the broad age ranges achiev...

This paper discusses the atypical wear observed on the anterior teeth of an enslaved African adult female (age‐at‐death: 47.62±3.36 years), exhumed from Valle da Gafaria, Lagos, Portugal (15th‐17th centuries). All teeth of this individual (n=31) were macroscopically observed to score dental wear and caries. A more accentuated wear was observed on t...

Bushfires and mass disasters from which result fatal fire victims are two types of events in which Forensic Anthropology acts aiding in the recovery of human remains and the identification of the victims. This is a challenging job since bones that have undergone fire-caused alterations can be unrecognizable. Therefore, collecting evidence at the sc...

This paper investigates the established notion that bone calcination has a major impact on age estimation while low-intensity burns have a mere negligible impact. Few systematic researches have been carried out so far about this topic so the true impact of heat-induced changes on diagnostic age features is mostly unknown. The agreement between pre-...

Forensic anthropologists may not always be able to differentiate heat-induced fractures from fractures with other aetiologies, namely sharp force traumas, with clear nefarious impact on medico-legal conclusions. The objective of this study was to experimentally investigate if blade chemical traces are transferred to defleshed bone tissue and if the...

In forensic anthropology, there is an inherent difficulty in estimating the post-mortem interval (PMI). This study aimed to assess whether there is a correlation between changes in the bone mineral component and the PMI estimation. Samples of femur and humerus from 80 identified individuals with known post-mortem interval were analyzed. Infrared sp...

This study aims to carry out the first geometric morphometric analysis of the 3D size and shape of the full series of cervical vertebrae delving into variability related to sex and population background. For this reason, we analyzed the cervical vertebrae of both males and females belonging to Europeans, Africans, and Greenland Inuit. We 3D-scanned...

The aim of this article is to present to the scientific and academic community the Unidentified Skeletal Collection of the Capuchos Cemetery. The skeletons, of contemporary individuals, were collected from the same cemetery as those of the 21st Century Identified Skeletal Collection, but their identification is unknown. The collection is composed o...

For identification of the unknown, the analysis of individualizing characteristics is a paramount procedure, which allows the reconciliation of antemortem with postmortem data. Worldwide, populations are commonly affected by tooth loss, leading to procedures of oral rehabilitation, such as dental prostheses. Although the potential of these devices...

Background Hansen’s disease (leprosy), widespread in medieval Europe, is today mainly prevalent in tropical and subtropical regions with around 200,000 new cases reported annually. Despite its long history and appearance in historical records, its origins and past dissemination patterns are still widely unknown. Applying ancient DNA approaches to i...

Identified (documented) osteological collections represent an important resource in the development of forensic anthropology standards and methods as well as a precious tool for learning and training of practitioners. Even though the number of papers presenting identified collections worldwide increases, many of the collections have still not been...

Objectives: Even though much is known about bone mineral and matrix composition, studies about their relationship with several bone properties and its alterations related to bone diseases such as osteoporosis are practically non-existent in humans. Thus, the development of methods to understand the effects of bone properties at a microscopic level...

Increasing requests from academic students of all levels and different backgrounds to have practical trainings during their studies motivated this project to be developed. After the identification of the need, the development of several workshops begun in 2016 as an additional hands-on approach to Forensic Anthropology. Through innovative and multi...

The correct interpretation of highly fragmented, commingled and abundant bone assemblages implies normally a thorough and detailed excavation. Archaeothanatology has provided the theoretical and methodological tools to reconstruct past mortuary and funerary gestures and practices. Part of this conceptual knowledge has been acquired during the excav...

The true impact of heat-induced changes in human bone regarding their sex estimation has not been comprehensively documented having a potentially negative impact on forensic anthropology. The objective of this paper was to evaluate how heat exposure affects sex estimation based on both morphological and metric features. The study focused in both lo...

Although being a standard technique for bone mineral density (BMD) measurements and its study and application to defleshed bones started in the past decade, dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) has not been applied to burned bones. However, DXA analyses on burned bones can foreseeably increase our knowledge regarding the changes that occur on bon...

Dental enamel hypoplasia, a defect of enamel formation, has been widely used for the investigation of growth disruptions in past populations, as it provides a permanent record of disturbances occurring during an individual's development. With the aim of recording changes in health status during development of the African enslaved individuals recove...

In forensic anthropology, the application of traditional methods for estimating the biological profile of human skeletal remains is often hampered by poor preservation and skeletal representativeness, compromising their reliability. Thus, the development of alternative methods to the morphometric analysis of bones to estimate the biological profile...

After the publication of the first article in 2014, 21st Century Identified Skeletal Collection, housed in the Laboratory of Forensic Anthropology, Department of Life Sciences at the University of Coimbra, Portugal, has been growing. Currently, the collection is composed of 302 complete adult skeletons of both sexes, which means that in 5 years it...

Objectives: Heat exposure can lead to apparently random osteometric changes that hinder the application of metric methods used for biological profiling. The impractical-ity of using objective and burn-specific osteometric methods reduces the chances of establishing the biological profiles of unknown individuals based on their skeletal remains. We i...

Heat-induced bone changes are being increasingly studied. Namely, it is necessary to evaluate some relevant assumptions regarding experimental investigations involving burned bones. This study intends to assess potential bilateral asymmetry between antimeres and the effect that the application of the Primal SF-016 preservative may have in the inorg...

In 2009, a salvage archaeological excavation in Valle da Gafaria (Lagos, Portugal) brought to light the skeletal remains of 158 African enslaved individuals (15th–17th centuries), from which several presented intentional dental modifications on their anterior dentition. Although this cultural practice may be related to rites of passage, differentia...

Forensic taphonomy is an emerging field of great relevance which can be applied within and beyond forensic scenarios. Due to an ageing population and the slow body decomposition rate, Portuguese cemeteries are now encountering problems with a high number of natural mummified bodies. City halls are constantly concerned about the lack of burial space...

Numa perícia de Antropologia Forense, a avaliação da cronologia dos eventos traumáticos é um processo fundamental para a identificação e compreensão da causa e circunstância da morte de um indivíduo. As fraturas antemortem constituem um testemunho dos eventos traumáticos ocorridos durante a vida dos indivíduos e, quando comparados com registos conf...

Human taphonomic processes are not fully understood though major advances have been made over the past years. Despite the legal significance it might have in forensic scenarios, studying spontaneous human mummification has not been a major focus of the scientific community mainly due to the difficulty of performing investigations with the human spe...

En junio de 2018 una actuación promovida por familiares de los desaparecidos y por la ARMH llevó a cabo una exhumación de tres integrantes del ejército de tierra de la Segunda República Española de la fosa común del cementerio vecinal de la localidad de Canseco, perteneciente al municipio de Cármenes, provincia de León, noroeste de España. Estos so...

Lesiones perimortem: Siete lesiones inciso-cortantes en el cráneo (Figuras 1, 2b, 2e). Una lesión en el maxilar derecho con daño en premolares y molares, y en el cuerpo mandibular izquierdo con daño en el incisivo central, incisivo lateral y canino (Figuras 1, 2a, 2c, 2d). La penetración observada en cada lesión (Tabla 1) es parcial en las marcas:...

The aim of this work is to discuss the frequency of traumatic bone injuries in a quite unique skeletal assemblage of enslaved people from Valle da Gafaria, Lagos, Portugal (15th-17th centuries). In all, 30 males, 58 females, and 15 individuals of unknown sex were included in the study. The skeletal remains were macroscopically observed for traumati...

The Muge shell middens of Cabeço da Arruda, Cabeço da Amoreira and Moita do Sebastião (central Portugal) have been key sites of archaeological research for 150 years, possibly working as residential sites occupied by semi-sedentary communities during the final Mesolithic. The purposes of this article include the biocultural assessment of metacarpal...

In 2009, an excavation carried out in Valle da Gafaria, Lagos, Portugal, allowed for the recovery of the skeletal remains of 158 individuals buried in a dump used during the 15th‐17th centuries. The archaeological context of the findings, the presence of African items associated with the skeletons, the skulls’ morphology, and the presence of intent...

Les dents sont les pièces les plus résistantes du squelette humain et ont des caractéristiques spécifiques qui nous permet d’individualiser différentes personnes. Pour l’anthropologie dans le contexte de la médecine légale, cette procédure est très importante pour l’identification positive de cadavéres et de personnes vivantes. Depuis 2015, le Labo...

Introdução: Durante uma intervenção arqueológica no Castelo de Portalegre, em 2005, foram identificadas sete inumações (6 adultos e 1 adolescente, todos do sexo masculino) na zona do pátio. As fontes históricas sugerem que poderiam tratar-se dos enterramentos de militares das tropas de Wellington, uma vez que há a notícia do enterramento de um Tene...

A diáfise dos ossos longos são maioritariamente compostas por osso compacto, sendo das regiões mais mineralizadas do esqueleto logo mais resistentes (White e Folkens, 2005). No caso do fémur, este está preparado para grandes cargas, especialmente verticais. A sua fratura, sobretudo ao nível do meio da diáfise, é pouco frequente, quando comparativam...

As diferentes fases de consolidação das fraturas: um caso de estudo Introdução O presente trabalho visa caracterizar as lesões observadas no indivíduo 222 da Coleção de Esqueletos Identificados do Século XXI (CEI/XXI) da Universidade de Coimbra, que exibe um conjunto de lesões antemortem, ocorridas em períodos diferentes da sua vida, e lesões perim...

La fouille d'une décharge urbaine (XVe-XVIIe siècles) à l'extérieur des murs de la ville de Lagos (Portugal) a permis d'exhumer les restes squelettiques de 158 individus d'origine sub-saharienne. Depuis le travail sur le terrain, les estimations de l'âge au décès et du sexe des adultes ont été problématiques. Cependant, ces paramètres sont essentie...

Ancestry assessment is highly important in the establishment of the biological profile of an unidentified skeletal individual. Throughout a forensic enquiry, biogeographic affinity may lead the case into a new direction and help police investigators identifying individuals from the missing persons list. Nonetheless, estimating ancestry may be a cha...

Num caso de Antropologia Forense, a avaliação do perfil biológico de um indivíduo não é suficiente para se chegar a uma identificação positiva. Neste sentido, a busca de características únicas que tornam os indivíduos diferentes dos demais é imperiosa para o sucesso na resolução de um caso forense. Exemplos dessas características são os dispositivo...

In forensic anthropology, the age-at-death of an adult individual is one of the most complex parameters of the biological profile to estimate. The present study aims to evaluate the reliability of the Calce (2012) method for the estimation of age-at-death through acetabulum changes in a sample of Portuguese origin. This method consists of the globa...

Extreme fragmentation can complicate the inventory of human skeletal remains. In such cases, skeletal mass can provide information regarding skeleton completeness and the minimum number of individuals. For that purpose, several references for skeletal mass can be used to establish comparisons and draw inferences regarding those parameters. However,...