[Process of exhumation and identification of victims of the 1992-1995 war in the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina]. / Proces ekshumacji i identyfikacji ofiar wojny na terenie Bosni i Hercegowiny w latach 1992-1995.

Three and half years of war in Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1992-1995 took lives of thousands of people. About 30,000 of them were accounted for and reported as missing. Fighting and ethnic cleansing took place throughout the country. In consequence bodies of killed persons were buried in endless number of clandestine mass graves, dumped into rivers, wells, septic tanks and caves, or simply left unburied in fields, meadows and forests. Therefore, it is essential to obtain information about the potential grave or graves, which allows their proper location. More than 20,000 victims were exhumed to the end of 2008. Unfortunately, majority of remains recovered from secondary graves represents either incomplete skeletons, not associated bones or bone fragments. In this situation, only a large-scale DNA testing, in the future, will answer for question how many people are victims of that war. It is predicted that process of exhumation and identification will be finished until 2015 year.

Two-criteria dental aging method applied to a Bosnian population: comparison of formulae for each tooth group versus one formula for all teeth.

The purpose of this study was to obtain age estimation formulae using the length of periodontosis, transparency of the root and root height in each tooth group for the current male population in Bosnia and Herzegovina and to compare these formulae with Lamendin's and Prince's formulae. The research was undertaken on 847 single rooted teeth from 200 identified deceased persons, individuals who died between the ages of 23 and 85 years. Periodontosis, transparency and root height were measured according to Lamendin's procedure. All teeth were grouped in two ways: according to the tooth groups and to the age groups. The highest coefficients of correlation are obtained for maxillary canines (R = 0,731) and mandibular canines (R = 0,706) and the maxillary lateral incisors showed the lowest mean error (ME = 6,63 years). In age groups, the lowest mean error was obtained in the 40-49 years age group (ME = 5,15 years). Equations developed in this study give statistically significantly better age estimations in comparison to the original Lamendin and Prince formulae for the whole sample as well as for each tooth group, except for mandibular central incisors. Age estimation with models developed for each tooth group (except for mandibular lateral incisors) was statistically significantly better than models based on the whole sample.

Stature estimation for Bosnian male population.

Since 1996, the Trotter and Gleser formulae to determine the stature of recovered missing persons in Bosnia and Herzegovina have been used. The purpose of this study is to develop appropriate stature estimation formulae from the length of the femur, tibia and fibula for use in the Bosnia and Herzegovina to help in identifications of the victims. Research was undertaken on 50 male cadavers, of individuals who died between the ages of 23 to 54 years. The cadaver length was measured and the length of the long bones was obtained from X-ray photographs. The length of the cadavers of the individuals who died after age of 45 years was corrected according to Giles' table. This study established that using Trotter and Gleser's formulae underestimate stature of tall people in the current population of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Smallest standard error of estimate is observed in the formula that uses the sum of the length of femur and fibula. There are no statistically significant differences between the length of the bones from the left and right sides of the body. Therefore, formulae developed from the average length of bone pairs are recommended for use.