{"id":653,"date":"2026-07-08T20:40:43","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T17:40:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scientificconferenceofgenocide.krd\/?p=653"},"modified":"2026-07-21T22:16:52","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T19:16:52","slug":"role-and-management-of-forensic-anthropology-and-forensic-medicine-in-estimating-sex-and-age-of-the-yazidi-kurdish-mass-grave-in-kojo-near-the-sinjar-area","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scientificconferenceofgenocide.krd\/?p=653","title":{"rendered":"Role and Management of Forensic Anthropology and Forensic Medicine in Estimating Sex and Age of the Yazidi Kurdish Mass Grave in Kojo, Near the Sinjar Area"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Abstract<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Background:<\/strong> Following the 2014 attacks on Sinjar, multiple mass graves were documented in Kojo village. Many victims were exhumed and transferred to Baghdad for medico\u2011legal examination and humanitarian identification. In large\u2011scale recovery operations, pelvic and cranial elements are not always available or sufficiently preserved; consequently, long bones (femur and forearm) become critical for sex estimation and for cross\u2011checking age assessments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Objective:<\/strong> To evaluate whether measurements of the left femur and left forearm (radius + ulna complex, measured as forearm length) can aid sex estimation and support age profiling in a cohort of exhumed individuals from Kojo, and to summarize practical management steps that supported ethical, scientific, and culturally sensitive handling of remains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Materials and Methods:<\/strong> We reviewed 382 skeletonized sets of remains meeting strict inclusion criteria (intact left femur and left forearm; adult epiphyseal status) and excluding cases with extensive burning, mutilation, advanced taphonomic alteration, or prior major trauma\/deformity. Standard osteological procedures and chain\u2011of\u2011custody protocols were applied. Long\u2011bone lengths were recorded; descriptive statistics and group comparisons were conducted to explore sexual dimorphism and age\u2011related patterns within the available data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Results:<\/strong> The mean left femur length was 31.40 \u00b1 11.91 cm and the mean left forearm length was 24.02 \u00b1 9.12 cm. The difference between these means was statistically significant (p < 0.001). Of 342 sexed individuals, 146 (42.7%) were male and 196 (57.3%) were female. Age profiling identified 199 (58.2%) adults, 139 (40.6%) older adults, and 4 (1.2%) subadults.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conclusions:<\/strong> In absence of pelvic or cranial landmarks, femur and forearm measurements provide practical adjuncts to sex estimation in this population and context. Such measurements should be applied alongside broader metric and morphological assessments and, wherever possible, genetic testing. The experience from Kojo highlights not only analytical techniques but also the operational management\u2014documentation, storage, and family\u2011centered return\u2014that underpins dignified identification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keywords:<\/strong> Forensic anthropology; mass graves; Kojo; Sinjar; Yazidi; sex estimation; long bones; femur; forearm; humanitarian identification; Iraq. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full Text Research<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Abstract Background: Following the 2014 attacks on Sinjar, multiple mass graves were documented in Kojo village. Many victims were exhumed and transferred to Baghdad for medico\u2011legal examination and humanitarian identification. In large\u2011scale recovery operations, pelvic and cranial elements are not always available or sufficiently preserved; consequently, long bones (femur and forearm) become critical for sex […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":796,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scientificconferenceofgenocide.krd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scientificconferenceofgenocide.krd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scientificconferenceofgenocide.krd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scientificconferenceofgenocide.krd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scientificconferenceofgenocide.krd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=653"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.scientificconferenceofgenocide.krd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":797,"href":"https:\/\/www.scientificconferenceofgenocide.krd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653\/revisions\/797"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scientificconferenceofgenocide.krd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scientificconferenceofgenocide.krd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scientificconferenceofgenocide.krd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scientificconferenceofgenocide.krd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}