Brigitte Barbero
I love the Celtic languages, culture, history, and music. And I love learning new languages. I am a translator by profession and enjoy the language part of it.
Location USA
Activity
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
Thank you for a most interesting and eye-opening course.
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
It is a sheer impossible task to identify a migrant if that particular person was a person living in poverty. There are probably no dental or medical records, and there may not necessarily be a relative. Also, a lot of times, migrants change their route if the planned route does not work. The sad reality is that there are probably thousands that will never be...
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
Wars are always bad events. Blame one side or another, there are bad and good people. It is good to see that Turkish and Greek Cypriots are now working side by side, a step towards living together peacefully.
In the end, it is always the people on the top that give the orders, but never have to be in the melee themselves, " an eye for an eye until everyone is... -
Brigitte Barbero made a comment
Seeing as people actually create organizations to help in remains being returned to families and provide evidence for trials regarding war crimes, it gives me hope for the future. There are those who give their personal time without being asked, and they carry out tasks that take an emotional toll. We must be thankful for people such as these!
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
There is still a lot of work to be done. 7,000 people are still missing. This type of work unfortunately never ends.
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
This is a really challenging site, just the sheer number of bones is overwhelming. The removal of the bodies from one area and dragging them to another, throwing them like trash down a ravine is an unthinkable act that can certainly only be done by people that should not be walking around free.
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It seems it always takes a tragedy, such as the death of the badly treated Scottish soldiers, to develop/improve new methods in forensic anthropology for the identification of these poor souls.
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A complex and challenging task to differentiate between multiple victims. So sad this is a necessary task.
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
What an odd occurrence. It is sort of creepy thinking that you could be your own fuel for your 'cremation'.
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
These methods may help us to understand more about burial rites and practices in earlier cultures.
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I never knew that a cremulator is required to 'create' ashes after a cremation. At the same time, it is fascinating that the hotter the fire, the higher the chance that bones will be preserved. Almost an oxymoron in a way.
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
A lot of information to process. Extremely interesting. How helpful would these methods have been during the "great" wars or the Vietnam/Korean conflicts.
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
This method using peptides saves scientists considerable amounts of time and money. This must be such a relief considering (sadly) how many remains still need to be sorted out.
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
Globalization with regard to food imports probably causes quite a glitch for differentiation between skeletal remains of foreigners and indigenous populace today, since many people enjoy foreign foods as well.
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
I moved from Germany to the United States, to Italy and back to the USA. I wonder if that would be a confusion of isotopes. I wonder if there is a way to determine changes in weather patterns in the past using isotopes.
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
As a child at home, we rarely ate meat, more fish and plant-based food. We were 9 children, and fish was cheap then. I am sure, it would show up in my teeth.
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
This is really precise work. Is the whole process done in one day or does it take longer?
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
There must be a huge database with isotope values in different geographic locations. Or how else would you know which values place people in which geographical locations?
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
A lot more complicated than I previously thought. I was also intrigued by the occurrence of heteroplasmy. That alone would be a subject that is worth investigating more.
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
The video gives you an insight of how things are done, very different from the TV version everyone thinks what it should look like.
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
I wonder how frequently DNA miscoding lesions are misread or even cause a person to be misidentified or not identified. Is there a second set of eyes going over identified DNA to prevent that?
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
I wonder if the European Standard Set (ESS)’ of 12 STR loci is as precise a match as the UK and US standards.
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
Thanks for the detailed refresher, it has been a while :-)
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Ribs, vertebrae and pelvis are cancellous bone and hence more fragile and porous.
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
No break, but spondylolisthesis. But I think that is rather common, so I would need some more identifying markers.
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
Comprehensive explanation. Thank you for simplifying the process for us lay people. Very interesting!
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
First 3D- mandible-Enamel defects: First and second premolar show signs of caries. First molar looks pitted and scattered signs of caries. Second molar has beginning of caries, third molar has not erupted.
Second 3D-mandible with caries: Second molar has severe caries, half of the tooth is eaten away, third molar is pitted with caries. First molar and... -
Brigitte Barbero made a comment
I am thinking adult male. All molars are erupted, and there are signs of calculus. Not sure about the age. Definitely over 20.
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
We took care of my father; trying to help him out of the wheelchair/bed was difficult because he was so very thin, and we had to be so careful because there was no fat/tissue, just small, almost birdlike bones. Elderly people are defenseless against someone bigger and meaner; it is heartbreaking.
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
Postmortem is clearly visible with the color difference along the edges.
The hole shows healing around the edge, nice and rounded. Blunt force trauma did a number on this skull.
Regarding the hole in the skull-I read some interesting articles about trepanning in ancient skulls in Peru. If anyone is interested:
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
The mandible shows damage underneath and at the front which could be peri-mortem. The scapula shows clearly a squarish entrance wound as well as the exit wound with breakage around
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
Never broke anything despite having 8 siblings and many adventures :-)
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
I would think that in this day and age a tertiary stage of syphilis would be a rare case indeed. But what horrific changes, I wonder if or how this person was functioning any longer, how badly affected his/her brain was. I had a case of bone cancer in the family and know what damage it can do, such a horrible disease.
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
The ulna has a striated, pitted appearance with color variations. There is a hole and deformation towards the distal end.
The deformation of the femur could be the result of a Vitamin D deficiency. -
Brigitte Barbero made a comment
The model of the cervical vertebrae shows seriously deformed bone. I wonder how this person moved around, or did this condition eventually lead to his/her death?
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
How common is osteomyelitis after a bone injury and does it always leave behind such destruction? Does the tissue heal over or is it a weeping wound or is the whole process below the tissue or skin surface?
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
This is quite the undertaking. With so many diseases and changes to the bones, it is most likely quite a challenge to decide which to feature in the course.
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
I thought age was "easier" to determine than it is. Before this course I always wondered why there was always such a wide range for the age and the size. If you hear "between the age of 25 to 35 and a height between 5'8" and 6'2", you think maybe there was not enough time for determination, but now I know better. It is also a whole lot more complex than I...
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
It must have been a seriously time-consuming task to develop these calculations. Nowadays, we have super computers that do a lot of the work, but just 40 years ago, I am sure it was quite a job to work out the stature of an unknown skeleton.
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
I think I still see slight striae, but no billowing. No pitting or macropore areas. That would put the individual in the middle group.
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
the line of the iliac crest is visible. there is still a distinct separation at the ischial tuberosity. I hope I read it right. It is difficult to distinguish the various parts without a detailed study of the pelvis on a chart beforehand (Gray's anatomy)
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
Very difficult to differentiate. I can see why it takes years of practice to assign bones to age groups or even try and estimate an age.
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
It is interesting that none of the methods individually are used by themselves, but that it always requires at least one additional method to get a closer approximate assessment of the age (group). The specialists have to be quite observant, there seems to be very little "typical" after the age of 40.
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this was difficult for me to do. I made the assumption that there were two deciduous teeth on each side and one permanent, not yet erupted molar on each side. Permanent teeth replace deciduous teeth at about 6 years of age. Since the molar has not yet erupted, I would say about 5-6 years of age.
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
The difference in appearance of epiphyses from very young to old is remarkable. I can see where they can be overlooked in a dig since they look more like a small rock than a piece of bone.
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It is amazing that it is possible to piece these tiny parts together, especially considering that many of the bones still need to fuse, e. g., the mandible that is still in two pieces, or the pelvis, that is in several pieces and are only fusing with age. this requires very precise and detailed digging and recognition.
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
Judging by the sciatic notch, I would say probably male, however, it is hard for me to be. Definitely would not rely on this.
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
When looking at male and female crania side by side, the differences are easy to see, but if you have just one you need to identify, it is a lot harder. I can understand why the cranium alone is not used for identification alone since the differences can be interpreted either way depending on the build of the deceased person.
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
The 3D-models really help "seeing" the individual differences between male and female, however I doubt I would be able to use some of these criteria if given a pelvis to identify. Some of the 'differences' are very hard to see, if at all.
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
I had no idea it was so difficult to determine the sex of a person, but it makes sense considering we have women 7ft tall and men 5ft short (and, of course all other sizes, shorter and taller), as well as all kinds of shapes. Biology is not black and white, there are many gray areas.
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
Standardization is the way to go. I am sure it makes the work of forensic specialists considerably "easier" with regard to comparisons between assessments, and as previously mentioned, studies.
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
With the help of these 3-D models, it is a lot easier now for anyone in an ME's office or any criminal investigator to get access to a "piece of evidence" as it were. The original piece of bone does not get touched or handled by many hands and there is no risk of contamination. You can look at the bone/skull a million times without damaging it! And family...
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
Thank you for the overview. I am looking forward to it.
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
Awesome. It is as if you turn the cranium in your hands, seeing all depressions, protrusions, scratches, etc. A great way to protect the original and being able to see it from all angles.
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This is infinitely more complicated than you would expect. After reading through the Best Practices for the use of SLS and the analysis of sharp trauma on the ox skulls, my brain is literally smoking. It is quite a bit more involved than one would think. Great and interesting section, thank you!
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
It must be quite difficult to find the grave cut especially after a multitude of people (such as the people who found the body and possibly police who may have been called) walked near or on the original grave. This really requires extremely detailed and precise work.
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
My question about a high water table is already partially answered by @RebeccaGowland. However, how do you work when the water table is so high, do you have to pump off water and erect some sort of surrounding wall ?
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
It is uncanny how many atrocities are uncovered now that technology is used more and more since it is more affordable for organizations to own/use these devices. Thanks to that, cases such as the murdered babies in Tuam or the missing and murdered indigenous children of the Government Schools in Canada can be dealt with and hopefully guilty parties be...
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
I am amazed by cadaver dogs. Some of the dogs are even reported to smell and locate bodies submerged in water. It would be interesting to know how they do it.
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
Forensic practitioners surely had to deal with shortages of everything due to these conditions. I am sure they had to do a lot of manual work with no electricity or labs. What exhausting traumatizing work. None of them certainly will ever forget this experience.
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I assume that in digs with extremely old skeletons, the pelvis and ribs are often missing or only partially there. In graves with several skeletons that must make it difficult to guess the original positions.
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Hi Maya, there is a very rare disease called osteopetrosis that makes bones denser.
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
To my shame, I never realized that ribs and pelvis are more porous than long bones. I would have bet on the pelvis and ribs being dense bone since these parts often take a lot of abuse. Wow!
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
Once the anthropologist has confirmed a natural death without the involvement of foul play, will a forensic archaeologist still be asked to confirm?
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
I watched a cold case on a women who had been stuffed in a barrel with some sort of chemical. They found the barrel 40 years later in the cellar of an old house. They were initially only able to identify her by an address book and her handbag. With new methods in recent years, the finally confirmed the ID. So, the addition of chemicals or any sort of acidic...
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Thank you, Kathy. It was very informative. There was also a documentary on about this incident, it was a BBC mini-series called "the Dyatlov Pass Mystery."
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
It is amazing how the environment or pathology have such a great influence on the speed of decomposition. I wonder how bones are affected by saltwater, as in ships that sink with their crew.
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
Very useful links.
I wonder if there are any links to the recently discovered atrocities in the Tuam Mother and Baby homes or the Magdalene laundries. I understand they were buried in mass graves as well. -
Brigitte Barbero made a comment
All the words will be used over and over since the event is always the same - death- however, the circumstances differ. Murder, accident, animal attack, etc. I wonder if "poison" should be in there, since often it is hard to detect it, as some of them are metabolized. Maybe it is too specific, because there is a lot of ground to cover.
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
Thank you for a good overview and distinction between the disciplines. I never realized where the lines (although blurry in some areas) were drawn. It is quite interesting to learn what happens with the body after death, although creepy. Come to think, that will be me at some time in the future.
Most people heard of rigor mortis, but never about the other... -
Brigitte Barbero made a comment
You would think that by the 21st century people would have learned to deal with conflicts without killing and wholesale slaughtering. But, there are always those who have a psychopath inside who convince others to live out their sick mind. Unbelievable! But, as in many cases of such atrocities, most people are afraid or just disappear if they speak up. I am...
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
I wonder how many times police are called to identify bones that are found by persons taking walks or such. And how horrifying it must be to find out that the remains are those of a victim and another statistic that needs to be assigned a name and an identity. If it were not for forensic science, there would be many bones just left in a box with the label...
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
Very detailed and well laid out. I love the case examples. Ironic to think that a murderer is given away by the paint of the spade he used to bury a victim. Kudos to the forensic experts!
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
Great explanation and very simple diagrams, easy to understand for anyone.
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
I can see the differences when two bones are lined up next to one another, but picking a bone among hundreds of other ones and being able to differentiate, that is an amazing skill.
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
Quite a complex chain of processes. Well and logically explained,
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
I can see where archaeology can be taken as a sub-category of anthropology. These fields are sort of interwoven in some areas and one starts where the other ends.
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
Hi, I am Brigitte. I am from Germany, but have lived in the US for over 30 years, now. I am a medical translator by trade. I have always had an interest in anthropology and archaeology. I did a lot of translation of forensic material when I worked for an abstract company which gave me some insight and fueled my interest in the field. I just have a thirst for...
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
Ethical considerations/guidelines should always be in place when dealing with any remains, bones or more. However, I think the models or 3D-images are not any different than photographs or drawings and are not truly part of the actual/real body, and, in my opinion, there is no harm in using them for research. There may be cultures which have a different take...
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It will be interesting to find out how it is possible to separate the remains of multiple people and identify them.
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
Sad to see what terrible acts humans are capable of committing. Booby-trapping graves is the lowest of the low - like killing the victims over again. If it was not for forensic specialists/practitioners, the victims would have no voices.
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
Hello,
I am Brigitte. I have always been interested in forensics. I have the greatest admiration for people in the field without whom many crimes would never be solved or people would never find out what happened to their loved ones. And what would history look like without forensic proof in many cases. I am so looking forward to get a glimpse into this field. -
An dath is fearr liom ná glasghorm agus ná gorm ceiriúlach.
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
Is Gearmánach mé. Tá an bhratach náisiúnta trí dath. Tá na dathanna sin dubh, fearg agus an dath óir.
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
Nuair a bheadh scornach tinn: gearrtha oinniún agus cuir siúcra leis. Anois fan lá. Caithfidh tú ólann an síoróip. [I hope this can be understood]
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
Ghortaigh mé mo ceann agus anois tá tinneas cinn orm. Ach tá mé ag teach chugam féin.
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Hi Sara, on the American keyboard there is a only an "ALT" key, no ALT gr. so all you need to do is ensure the number lock is on, then press "alt" and while holding it down you press the respective number, such as "alt + 0225" for "á". I hope this works for you!
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
Léim mo leabhar le mo m'inion. Is maith liom mo leabhair, iad go léir. Tá mé i mo chónaí le mo fhear chéile agus mo pháistí.
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
Dia daoibh, is mise Brighid. Táim ard agus lúfar. Tá mé bán agus cas sa ghruaig. Tá súile gorma agam.
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Brigitte Barbero replied to Margaret Graham
Hi Margaret, it seems to be. See here: https://www.teanglann.ie/en/fgb/lámh
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Is maith liom caife agus tae, ach ní maith liom bainne soighe. Is maith liom bainne bó, ach ní maith liom bainne gabhair. Is fearr liom fíon agus uisge nó uisge beatha.
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
Is maith Liom an t-ealaíontóir John W.-Waterhouse agus Edward Burne-Jones.
Is ealaíontóirí Pre-Raphalite iad. -
Brigitte Barbero made a comment
Go dtí an tseachtain seo chugainn
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
Go raibh maith agaibh!
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
I enjoyed the discussion about Piseoga. It is always interesting to hear what other people, from different corners of the earth think, and, of course, what people in Ireland fear or like.
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Is maith liom ceol traidisiúnta, ach ní maith liom ceol rap. An maith leat sean-nós? Is maith liom é.
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Brigitte Barbero made a comment
I think, a lot of superstitions are so interwoven into our culture that we assume them into our daily lives without thinking about it. You grow up with them, so that you automatically walk around a ladder, refrain from opening an umbrella inside a house (why would you do that anyway?) or worry when you see a black cat crossing your path. I think we all have a...
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Brigitte Barbero replied to Hannah Leamy
I saw the backs of many loads of hay when I grew up, but never a white horse. I wonder how that superstition came about :-)
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Thanks Liz for this nugget of knowledge:-) You never stop learning. Very interesting!
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Hi Sara, the " num lock" has to be on for it to work.
