Author/Editor		Leskovar, Tamara; Zupanič-Pajnič, Irena; Jerman, Ivan; Črešnar, Matija
Title		Separating forensic, WWII, and archaeological human skeletalremains using ATR-FTIR spectra
Type		članek
Vol. and No.		, št. Vol. 134
Publication year		2020
Volume		str. 811-821
ISSN		1437-1596 - International journal of legal medicine
Language		eng
Abstract		ATR-FTIR spectroscopy is a fast and accessible, minimally or non-destructive technique which provides information on phys-iochemical characteristics of analyzed materials. In forensic and archaeological sciences, it is commonly used for answeringnumerous questions, including the archaeological or forensic context of the human skeletal remains. In this research, the accuracyof ATR-FTIR-obtained spectra for separation between forensic, WWII, and archaeological human skeletal remains was inves-tigated. Building from the previously proposed methodological procedures, various ratio-based and whole spectra separationprocedures were applied, carefully analyzed, and evaluated. Results showed that employing whole spectral domains works bestfor the separation of archaeological, WWII, and forensic samples, even with samples of highly variable origin. Principalcomponent analysis (PCA) further highlighted the necessity of acknowledging all the major components in the remains: amides,phosphates, and carbonates for the separation. Most influential proved to be amide I, namely its secondary structure, whichpresented well-preserved and organized collagen structure in forensic and WWII samples, while highly degraded in archaeolog-ical samples. Using the whole spectral domain for separation between samples from different contexts proved to be fast andsimple, with no manipulation beyond baseline correction and normalization of spectra necessary. However, a dataset withsamples of known origin is required for the learning model and predictions. A less accurate alternative is separation based oncombining ratios of peaks correlating to organics and minerals in the bone, which eliminated overlapping and managed to classifythe majority of the samples correctly as archaeological, WWII, or forensic.
Keywords		človeški ostanki (arheologija) druga svetovna vojna sodna medicina spektroskopija kemijska analiza