Bone weight: new reference values based on a modern Portuguese identified skeletal collection

Skeletal weight and/or weight of the different bones of the human skeleton are currently used in a wide range of applications such as archaeological cremations and forensics. Still, few reference values are available that compare the mean weights for the different skeletal parts. In this paper we present new reference values for total skeletal weight, including the weight of the different skeletal bones based on a modern Portuguese Identified Skeletal Collection (CEI) curated in the Museum of Anthropology of the University of Coimbra (Portugal). The mean weight of the entire skeleton for the CEI pooled sample is 3323.8 ± 779.6 g. Sex and age differences were investigated. As expected, males display heavier bones, at a statistically significant level. The mean weight of the male skeletons is 3850 g, and 2797.6 g for the female sample. Age differences were found, especially for the female samples in the 29–39 versus 50–59 and/or >60 age groups, probably as a consequence of age‐related bone loss in post‐menopausal women. For the male sample, no clear age‐related trend was observed but for the unexpected result that the second highest bone weight recorded is in the oldest age group (>60 years). This could result from high mechanical loadings and thus greater bone robusticy and amount of cortical bone. The percentage of weight of the different parts of the skeleton was also calculated. These new values can be quite useful in the study of very fragmentary and/or commingled human remains, recovered from historic or forensic contexts, since the complete identification, by side, of the remains is not necessary. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.