Discovering the 60 years old secret: identification of the World War II mass grave victims from the island of Daksa near Dubrovnik, Croatia

摘要

Aim To describe the organization, field work, forensic anthropologicalexamination, and DNA analysis conducted toidentify the victims from a World War II mass grave foundon the Dalmatian island of Daksa near Dubrovnik (Croatia)in 2009.Methods Excavation of the site was performed accordingto standard archeological procedures. Basic anthropologicalexamination was made to determine the minimumnumber of victims, sex, age at death, and height. The boneswith pathological and traumatic changes were identified.DNA was extracted from powdered bones and relatives’blood samples. Y-chromosome and autosomal short tandemrepeats (STR) were used to establish the relationshipof the remains with the putative family members.Results The remains were found to belong to at least 53distinctive victims. All were male, mostly with gunshotwounds to the head. DNA analysis and cross-matching ofthe samples with relatives resulted in 14 positive identificationsusing the Y-chromosomal STRs and 4 positive identificationsusing the autosomal STRs.Conclusions This study showed that even in cases of morethan 50-year-old, highly degraded human remains frommass graves, Y-chromosomal and autosomal STRs analysiscan contribute to identification of the victims.