Death investigation is a multi-disciplinary effort employing the skills of different forensic specialists from fields as diverse as pathology, anthropology, odontology and entomology. In the examination of skeletal trauma, the contribution of the analysis by the forensic anthropologists is essential. Such an analysis helps determine whether skeletal injuries are temporally associated with the events surrounding death and the mechanisms that were involved in their production. The aim of this study was to investigate the perimortem nature of various bone fractures by assessing their particular morphological characteristics. A total of 111 perimortem skeletal injuries observed in 16 skeletons from a documented skeletal collection and a series of forensic cases were examined for this purpose. The perimortem trauma investigated was limited to blunt force trauma. The absence of an osteogenic response remains a basic characteristic of a perimortem injury but not the only diagnostic criterion. It was concluded that fracture patterning, the morphology of fractured edges and the presence of particular skeletal and non-skeletal attributes may substantially contribute to the diagnosis of perimortem trauma. Postmortem bone alterations such as abrasion due to sediment action or whitening resulting from sun exposure, observed in certain perimortem fractures, can cause considerable problems in trauma analysis by removing important indicators of perimortem trauma.
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