Bone length estimation and population-specific features of calcaneus and talus bones of the late Byzantine era

Abstract

Certain markers in bone structure allow researchers to estimate the length of an entire bone based only on a fragmented piece. Forensic anthropologists and bio-archeologists have recently devoted greater attention to the estimation of bone length from fragmented bones. This study aims to evaluate osteometric data in order to distinguish the population affinity of Byzantine individuals, as well as to estimate the length of the calcaneus and talus bones based on incomplete specimens. This is vital because of the importance of talar bones in the assessments of the population-specific features and because calcaneus and talus bones tend to preserve better archaeologically. The study includes 160 adult, male, complete and non-damaged calcanei (72 left and 88 right) and 84 adult, male, complete and non-damaged talus bones (38 left and 46 right) from the dry, late Byzantine era (13(th) Century AD) contexts. A total of 10 bony markers were selected for measurements of calcanei and 14 were selected for tali. Data were subjected to statistical analysis in order to assess bilateral differences in the bony markers. Correlation coefficients were also determined between maximum lengths of calcanei and tali against other markers. Dorsal articular facet length and dorsal articular facet breadth parameters of calcanei showed significant side differences (p<0.01). Length of the sulcus tali and width of the sulcus tali parameters for talus bones also showed statistically significant differences (p<0.01). More than one of the bony markers correlated in a statistically significant way with maximum length of calcanei and tali.