ABSTRACT
An estimation of stature is the fi nal demographic characteristic in osteological analysis. Although rearticulating the skeleton and measuring the resultant length will provide an estimate of this parameter, this is much more diffi cult than it appears (e.g., the bones must be spaced the same as they are in life). Also, this requires all body segments that are part of height (i.e., skull, all vertebrae, pelvis, leg bones, foot bones) to be present, which is not common in forensic anthropology. Thus, formulae that allow for the estimation of stature from measurements of long limb bones comprise the most commonly used method for determining this parameter. These formulae can also be used with fragmented long limb bones because the relationship between bone segments and full bone length is known. In these cases, the process is to calculate the bone length from the fragment, and enter this length into a stature reconstruction formula. After the stature is calculated, adjustments due to age, bone shrinkage, and discrepancies between reported and measured height can be applied to increase the accuracy of the estimate.
