A modern documented Italian identified skeletal collection of 2127 skeletons: the CAL Milano Cemetery Skeletal Collection

• Published in: Forensic science international Vol. 287; pp. 219.e1 - 219.e5
• Main Authors: Cattaneo, Cristina, Mazzarelli, Debora, Cappella, Annalisa, Castoldi, Elisa, Mattia, Mirko, Poppa, Pasquale, De Angelis, Danilo, Vitello, Antonio, Biehler-Gomez, Lucie
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ireland Elsevier B.V 01.06.2018; Elsevier Limited
• Subjects: Age; Age determination; Anthropology; Autopsies; Autopsy; Bioarchaeology; Biocompatibility; Biomedical materials; biomedical research; Cemeteries; Chronology; Collection; Death; elderly; Forensic anthropology; Forensic anthropology population data; Forensic engineering; Forensic odontology; Forensic osteology; Forensic science; forensic sciences; Geriatrics; Identified collection; Infants; Italy; life events; Mortality; necropsy; Older people; Osteological collection; Sex; Skeletal collection; Italy; Forensic anthropology; Identified collection; Osteological collection; Skeletal collection; Bioarchaeology; Forensic anthropology population data
• ISSN: 0379-0738; 1872-6283; 1872-6283
• DOI: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2018.03.041

•Identified skeletal collections are of paramount importance for research purposes.•The CAL Milano Cemetery Skeletal Collection is an identified osteological collection.•The collection counts 2127 skeletons of both sexes equally, aged from 0 to 104 years.•The associated death certificates provide specific traumatic and pathological data.•The collection is continuously growing and of research potential. The CAL Milano Cemetery Skeletal Collection is a modern and continuously growing identified osteological collection of 2127 skeletons under study in the Laboratorio di Antropologia e Odontologia Forense (LABANOF) in the Department of Biomedical Sciences for Health of the University of Milan (Italy), and part of the Collezione Antropologica LABANOF (CAL). The collection presents individuals of both sexes and of all age groups with a high representation of the elderly and an interesting sample of infants. Each individual is associated with a documentation that includes sex, age-at-death, dates of birth and death, and a death certificate that specifies the exact cause of death and the chain of events that led to it (related pathological conditions or traumatic events). It was also possible to recover for several individuals the autopsy reports and antemortem photographs. This documented osteological collection is of crucial interest in physical and forensic anthropology: it provides unique teaching opportunities and more importantly considerable research possibilities to test and develop sex and age estimation methods, investigate key subjects of forensic relevance and discuss pathological markers, among others. The aim of this paper is to introduce the CAL Milano Cemetery Skeletal Collection as a new identified skeletal collection and present its research and teaching potential.