Lauren Swift

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Papers by Lauren Swift

Estimation of ancestry from cranial measurements based on MDCT data acquired in a Japanese and Western Australian population

International Journal of Legal Medicine, Jan 21, 2024

The estimation of ancestry is important not only towards establishing identity but also as a requ... more The estimation of ancestry is important not only towards establishing identity but also as a required precursor to facilitating the accurate estimation of other attributes such as sex, age at death, and stature. The present study aims to analyze morphological variation in the crania of Japanese and Western Australian individuals and test predictive models based on machine learning for their potential forensic application. The Japanese and Western Australian samples comprise computed tomography (CT) scans of 230 (111 female; 119 male) and 225 adult individuals (112 female; 113 male), respectively. A total of 18 measurements were calculated, and machine learning methods (random forest modeling, RFM; support vector machine, SVM) were used to classify ancestry. The two-way unisex model achieved an overall accuracy of 93.2% for RFM and 97.1% for SVM, respectively. The four-way sex and ancestry model demonstrated an overall classification accuracy of 84.0% for RFM and 93.0% for SVM. The sex-specific models were most accurate in the female samples (♀ 95.1% for RFM and 100% for SVM; ♂91.4% for RFM and 97.4% for SVM). Our findings suggest that cranial measurements acquired in CT images can be used to accurately classify Japanese and Western Australian individuals into their respective population. This is the first study to assess the feasibility of ancestry estimation using three-dimensional CT images of the skull.

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Cult, herding, and ‘pilgrimage’ in the Late Neolithic of north-west Arabia: Excavations at a mustatil east of AlUla

PLOS ONE

Since the 1970s, monumental stone structures now called mustatil have been documented across Saud... more Since the 1970s, monumental stone structures now called mustatil have been documented across Saudi Arabia. However, it was not until 2017 that the first intensive and systematic study of this structure type was undertaken, although this study could not determine the precise function of these features. Recent excavations in AlUla have now determined that these structures fulfilled a ritual purpose, with specifically selected elements of both wild and domestic taxa deposited around a betyl. This paper outlines the results of the University of Western Australia’s work at site IDIHA-0008222, a 140 m long mustatil (IDIHA-F-0011081), located 55 km east of AlUla. Work at this site sheds new and important light on the cult, herding and ‘pilgrimage’ in the Late Neolithic of north-west Arabia, with the site revealing one of the earliest chronometrically dated betyls in the Arabian Peninsula and some of the earliest evidence for domestic cattle in northern Arabia.

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Estimation of sex from cranial measurements in an Australian population

Australian Journal of Forensic Sciences

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Monumentality, Social Memory, and Territoriality in Neolithic–Chalcolithic Northwestern Arabia

Journal of Field Archaeology, 2021

ABSTRACT Recent excavations undertaken by the Aerial Archaeology in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (... more ABSTRACT Recent excavations undertaken by the Aerial Archaeology in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (AAKSA) project have recovered significant skeletal material, evidence for funerary offerings, including jewelry, and the earliest chronometrically dated domestic dog in the Arabian Peninsula. Despite being heavily disturbed by recent looting, these monumental funerary structures were found to be collective burials dating to the 5th and 4th millennia b.c. The evidence recovered from these graves provides new insight into the social and funerary landscapes of northwestern Arabia during the Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods, shedding light upon issues of social memory, territoriality, and monumentality in the Middle Holocene of the Arabian Peninsula.

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A preliminary investigation of cranial sexual dimorphism in a Northern Territory population

Australian Journal of Forensic Sciences, 2019

In the discipline of forensic anthropology, the concept of population specificity ensures that th... more In the discipline of forensic anthropology, the concept of population specificity ensures that the most accurate methodologies are applied to a given set of skeletal remains. It has been shown that the use of sex estimation standards derived using a population that is temporally and/or geographically removed from the population of the decedent results in misclassification and an unacceptably large sex bias. The current study explores the latter by applying two established cranial sex estimation standards, Giles and Elliot (1963) and Franklin (2013), to a previously untested population from the Northern Territory, Australia. The results demonstrate a reduction in classification accuracy when applying both standards, with an increase in the sex bias for all discriminant functions tested. These results indicate that utilizing foreign standards to estimate sex within the Northern Territory will likely result in misclassification, thus indicating the need for more accurate standards that reflect the sexual dimorphism in the contemporary Northern Territory population.

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‘Virtual anthropology’ and radiographic imaging in the Forensic Medical Sciences

Egyptian Journal of Forensic Sciences, 2016

Technological advancements in forensic imaging have had tremendous flow-on benefits to the profes... more Technological advancements in forensic imaging have had tremendous flow-on benefits to the professional practice of forensic anthropology, not only in respect of case-work analyses, but in facilitating empirical research that has validated and/or improved existing, and introduced novel, methods into the discipline. Some of the pioneering practical examples of radiographic imaging being applied in the forensic analysis of human skeletal remains date to the initial introduction of radiography in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Subsequent modern applications have developed concurrent to the use of computed tomography in the forensic morgue for autopsy procedures by pathologists; virtopsy (as it is now termed) represents a powerful non-invasive supplement/alternative to traditional autopsy practices where dissection may not be allowable due to religious objection (amongst other reasons). The present review considers a brief history of skeletal radiographic imaging and the specific modalities typically employed. Forensic applications of 'virtual anthropology' are then discussed, as are applications of the latter in DVI and other case-work scenarios. Throughout the review we emphasise the research importance of virtual modelling and conclude with some thoughts for future directions.

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