Proximal femur in biological profile estimation - Current knowledge and future directions

Abstract

This review presents an overview of the forensic utilities of the proximal femur in the existing literature. The proximal epiphysis of the femur bone is characterized as a skeletal structure that articulates with an acetabulum of a pelvic bone, forming the hip joint and generally accounted for one-fourth of the whole femoral length. Features that are seen in proximal femora include femoral head, fovea capitis, neck, greater and lesser trochanters, and proximal shafts. These can be viable alternatives for assessing the following biological parameters: stature, sex, age, and ancestry. Therefore, if the proximal femur is the only skeletal element that is available for examination, all four of the constituent parts of a biological profile of an unknown individual can be retrieved from analyzing proximal femora using quantitative approaches.

Keywords: Biological profile estimation; Forensic anthropology; Incomplete human remains; Morphometric parameters; Proximal femur.