A reflection on the maintenance of identified skeletal collections state of preservation

Abstract

The importance of the identified skeletal collections for research and teaching in anthropology is well-known and widely reported. In fact, in recent years, there has been a growing number of new collections around the world, such as the 21st Century Identified Skeletal Collection curated in Coimbra, Portugal, the University of Athens Human Skeletal Reference Collection (Greece), Milano Skeletal Collection (Italy), Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona Collection of Identified Human Skeletons (Spain), Granada Osteological Collection (Spain), and the Human Skeletal Reference Collection of Modern and Identified Filipinos (Philippines) to name a few. However, little if any publications have been published about the impact these collections and their state of preservation in the realms of research and teaching. Through the comparative analysis of the general preservation index carried out in a sample of the 21st Century Identified Skeletal Collection (CEI/XXI) in 2009 and in 2017, the question of the preservation is addressed. In 2009, Ferreira (2012) examined the preservation of 29 bone/anatomical regions of 70 adult skeletons. In February 2017, the same procedure was made. During this seven years’ period, these skeletons have been used in post-graduation classes, and for various research projects including thermal modification. A Cohen's kappa coefficient was used to examine changes in preservation and show that 55.2% of the cases showed significant changes in preservation (K K