Chemical Differentiation of Osseous and Nonosseous Materials Using Scanning Electron Microscopy-Energy-Dispersive...

Area of Science:

• Forensic Anthropology
• Materials Science
• Analytical Chemistry

Background:

• Traditional identification of osseous materials relies on gross anatomical features.
• Fragmented or altered osseous materials pose identification challenges.
• Chemical analysis may be necessary for problematic samples.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate scanning electron microscopy-energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry (SEM/EDX) for differentiating osseous and non-osseous materials.
• To assess the utility of elemental analysis and multivariate statistical analysis (principal component analysis) in this differentiation.
• To determine the accuracy and applicability of SEM/EDX for classifying unknown bone samples.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of 60 osseous (human and nonhuman bone, dental) and non-osseous samples using SEM/EDX.
• Application of elemental analysis and principal component analysis for data interpretation.
• Conducting a blind study with 20 unknown samples to test classification accuracy.

Main Results:

• A high overall correct classification rate of 97.97% was achieved after outlier removal.
• Osseous materials were classified with 99.86% accuracy.
• The blind study demonstrated 100% correct classification of unknown samples.

Conclusions:

• SEM/EDX combined with statistical analysis is a highly efficient method for differentiating osseous and non-osseous materials.
• This technique provides accurate identification even for challenging, altered, or fragmented samples.
• The method shows significant potential for forensic and archaeological applications.