The relationship between bipedalism and growth: A metric assessment in a documented modern skeletal collection (Certosa Collection, Bologna, Italy)

The Virtual Database of the Documented Human Osteological Collection (DHOC) of the Certosa Cemetery of Bologna (Italy, 19th-20th Century)

This article aims to introduce a new virtual database of skeletal human remains from the Documented Human Osteological Collection (DHOC) of the Certosa Cemetery of Bologna (Emilia Romagna, northern Italy) housed at the University of Bologna. The Virtual DHOC of the Certosa Cemetery of Bologna (VirtualDHOC) is stored in the publicly accessible 3D data repository MorphoSource, and consists of 3D models or micro-Computer Tomography scans of skeletal elements of a subsample of the 425 individuals. These skeletons, mostly complete and well-preserved, pertain to individuals of different ages, ranging from fetuses/newborns to 91 years old, for which the sex is known, who died in the city of Bologna between 1898 and 1944. This collection represents an important scientific resource for the study of human skeletal remains and to test methods and techniques in the field of bioarchaeology, forensics, and paleoanthropology. The digitization of a comprehensive database of 3D scans and 3D bones is an ongoing project that will implement the Virtual DHOC of the Certosa Cemetery of Bologna over the next few years. The Virtual DHOC of the Certosa Cemetery of Bologna aims to share the data contained therein with other researchers, contributing to the dissemination of knowledge and the promotion of scientific research in anthropology, while also ensuring the virtual preservation and accessibility of this collection for future generations. This simultaneously responds to various ethical concerns and best practices about the treatment and management of human skeletal remains.

Entheseal variation and locomotor behavior during growth

Entheses are acknowledged as skeletal markers capable of revealing several biological and behavioral aspects of past individuals and populations. However, entheseal changes (ECs) of juvenile individuals have not yet been studied with a systematic approach. This contribution aims at investigating the morphological changes occurring at the femoral insertion of the gluteus maximus and tibial origin of the soleus muscles to highlight a potential link between the morphological features of those entheses and skeletal maturity in relation to sex, age, and locomotor developmental patterns. The sample consisted of 119 skeletons (age-at-death: 0-30 years) belonging to the Documented Human Skeletal Collection of the Certosa Cemetery (Bologna, Italy). The entheseal variation during the last stages of skeletal maturation in young adults was assessed using existing recording standards. A recording protocol for each enthesis was developed for immature individuals to subdivide the morphological variability into discrete categories. Univariate, bivariate, and multivariate statistical analyses were performed to investigate the variation of entheseal morphologies and measurements in relation to bone metrics, degree of epiphyseal closure, sex, age, and locomotor developmental patterns. A statistically significant relationship was observed between ECs morphological patterns and age for both entheses, while sexual differences were negligible. A relationship between ECs morphological pattern and locomotor milestones emerged only for the gluteus maximus. Even though further testing is needed on other documented skeletal collections, our protocol could be usefully applied in forensic and archaeological fields and serving as important reference for evolutionary investigations.

Sexual Dimorphism in the Fibular Extremities of Italians and South Africans of Identified Modern Human Skeletal Collections: A Geometric Morphometric Approach

Fibular metric variations have revealed their potential in distinguishing between males and females; however the fibula remains scarcely analyzed in studies of sexual dimorphism. This work aims at investigating sexually dimorphic features in fibular proximal and distal epiphyses through geometric morphometrics methods. A total of 136 left fibulae, from two Italian and one South African identified skeletal collections were virtually acquired through CT and laser scanning and analyzed using geometric morphometric methods. Statistical analyses were performed on shape, form, and size variables. Results show that fibular epiphyses are smaller with narrower articular surfaces in females than in males in both extremities. Relevant sexual differences emerge in fibular form and size for the two Italian samples but not for the South African one, likely for its small sample size. Discriminant analysis on form principal components (PCs) offers accuracy above 80% when the samples are pooled, and reaches accuracy of 80-93% when the Italian samples are considered separately. However, our method on form PCs was not successful for the South African sample (50-53% accuracy), possibly due to the small sample size. These results show relevant morphological variation in relation to fibular form and size, with a degree of accuracy that indicates the utility of the present method for sexing human fibulae in both forensic and bioarchaeological contexts for Italian samples.