Multidisciplinary identification of human skeletal remains from the karst abyss in Demänovská Valley (19th–20th century calCE, Slovakia)

Abstract

The subject of this multidisciplinary forensic archaeological-anthropological research is a near-complete skeleton of a woman aged 40–49 years with possible perimortal cranial trauma, found within a known archaeological site from the 7th-3rd century calBCE. The skeleton (without any artefacts) was exhumed by speleologists from a depth of 14 metres, 2.8 m below the sedimentary deposit, in a deep and narrow karst abyss known as Studna na Jame, which is located in the district of Liptovský Mikuláš in the Low Tatra Mountains (Liptov Region, north Slovakia). Enthesopathies rank her among strong, physically-working individuals living in a mountainous terrain. Analysis of d13C and d15N testify to a terrestrial diet with high animal protein. A Bayesian chronological model with two 14C dates and osteological prior information suggested her death occurred in the 19th-20th centuries calCE. Oral history research in the nearby village concluded that reportedly, after 1870, an adult woman of a known name had gone missing. Genealogical and archival research produced her date of birth and later corrected the earliest possible date of missing to 1891. Analysis of nuclear and mitochondrial aDNA extracted from her molar were used for identification of the skeletal remains. Her only found living female offspring could not be sampled for DNA due to ethical reasons. Therefore, profound archival genealogical research was conducted and two living distant matrilineal relatives were identified. They were chosen as probands and were DNA matched as relatives of the studied woman, whom we refer to as LM. Hence, we could add her date of birth as new prior information in the Bayesian chronological model and, eventually, estimate her date of death to 1891–1911 calCE. In Slovakia, this is the first forensic archaeological-anthropological case of successful identification of a missing person from skeletal remains using a strong, multidisciplinary, case-specific research toolkit rooted both in sciences and humanities.