Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Two Of A Kind: Implications Of Bilateral Directional Asymmetry On Pair Matching Of Human Limb Bones., Lauren Ashley Garroway

Masters Theses

The task of sorting and analyzing commingled remains can be daunting, depending on the degree of fragmentation, distribution, and contents of the assemblage. The Most Likely Number of Individuals (MLNI) calculation for quantifying the contents of human skeletal assemblages is dependent upon the ability to properly match bilateral elements into pairs. Anthropologists employ numerous methods to reassociate commingled remains into discrete individuals, but the guiding principle used to match sided elements is “general symmetry” (Adams and Konigsberg, 2008; Byrd, 2008). However, different skeletal elements and regions within those elements are variably responsive to a combination of environmental and genetic factors. …