The Unidentified Skeletal Collection of Capuchos Cemetery (Santarém) housed at the University of Coimbra

Abstract

The aim of this article is to present to the scientific and academic community a new osteological collection housed at the Department of Life Sciences from the University of Coimbra (Portugal), the Unidentified Skeletal Collection of the Capuchos Cemetery. The skeletons were collected from the same cemetery as those of the 21st Century Identified Skeletal Collection, however their identity is unknown. The collection is comprised of 73 individuals, of which 68 are adults of both sexes (34 females, 33 males, and one individual of unknown sex) and five are non-adult individuals. It is estimated that the majority of adult individuals have a European ancestry (n = 52; 76.47%). The skeletons are reasonably preserved, although several are incomplete (n = 8; 10.96%) as result of both taphonomic changes occurred during the burial, and also due to experimental researches performed (some of which destructive). Regarding the osteopathology, it was observed that the majority of adult individuals have pathological changes (n = 67; 98.53%), with degenerative pathology being the most frequent in the sample. In addition, 13 individuals (17.81%) exhibit medical devices and/or signs of surgical procedures. The Unidentified Skeletal Collection of the Capuchos Cemetery is an osteological collection that, although not containing individual biographical data, has contributed to teaching, research and development of new methods for Biological and Forensic Anthropology in subjects such as osteology, morphology, biological profile, paleopathology, and cremains.