https://www.namus.gov/UnidentifiedPersons/Case#/12652/contacts?navJune 20, 2014
Anthropology Report
Case Number: 140618-27
Background: The Minidoka County Coroner was contacted by the Minidoka county museum regarding a human skull turned over to them by Wayne Birch who stated he was given the skull by a sheepherder in the 1940’s. The skull was transported to this office by Minidoka Coroner Lucky Bourn and signed over on 6/18/14 at 0905.
Description and Inventory: This is an intact skull with no mandible. Maxillary dentition is incomplete aside from one left canine with extensive wear. The maxilla shows bone resorbtion consistent with antemortem tooth loss. There is an abscess superior to the canine tooth consistent with an infection. The entire maxilla seems malformed with overlapping sutures.
Sex: Male
Buikstra and Ubleker 1994 scoring system was used to estimate sex.
The nuchal crest is robust with a score of 4, mastoid processes are large and robust with a score of 4, the supra orbital ridge are all robust with a score of 4. All are consistent with that of a male.
Age: 18-55
Age estimation is based on cranial suture closure. Sutures are closed but not yet obliterated.
Ancestry: European
William Bass Human Osteology 2005, Fordisc 3.0
Due to the misshapen maxilla, it was not used to determine ancestry. The skull has a narrow, high-bridged nose, and a narrow nasal opening consistent with European ancestry. The cranial vault is high, also consistent with European descent.
Fordisc
Using Fordisc 3.0, this skull is classified as being most closely related to a White male with a posterior probability of 0.974 when compared against white, black and Chinese ancestral groups. Fordisc provides three typicality probabilities: Type F, Type Chi and Type R. These represent how likely this sample belongs to each ancestry group, based on the distances to each group and the average variability of all the groups in the analysis. In this case, Type F calculated to 0.789, Type Chi was 0.745 and Type R was 0.722. This concludes that this skull resembles most closely to that of other European samples.
Summary: This skull is likely that of a white male between 18 and 55 years at age of death. There are no signs of trauma. Pathological features indicate a possible dental infection
Robert Karinen MA, MPA, F-ABMDI
Forensic Supervisor/Anthropologist
Ada County Coroner’s Office
(208) 287-5556
Beki Jumonville BA
Medicolegal Death Investigator/ Anthropologist
Ada County Coroner’s Office
(208) 287-5556
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