Abstract
Forensic anthropologists create a detailed record of the observations of a decedent and the depositional environment law enforcement or medical examiner personnel noted, as well as their own initial observations if they partake in the recovery or receive possession of the remains, all to assist in developing a case report and eventually a biological profile to understand what happened to the decedent before, during, and after death (Christensen et al., 2019, pp. 183-198). They evaluate the color of bone as one of their first visual observations, most commonly using the Munsell Soil Color Charts (MSCC) (Munsell Color, 2009). Forensic anthropologists observe the color of bone to provide connections between the depositional environment and the changes that altered the bone. Because bone is porous and takes on the color of the surrounding medium, investigators use this knowledge to understand how different environments stain bone, allowing them to determine whether someone had previously buried it and what processes resulted in color changes (Pokines & Baker, 2022, p. 116).Researchers increasingly utilize technology in various contexts within forensics, including during taphonomic observations, as technology advances over time (Hochrein, 2001, pp. 46-47). Their efforts advanced color science, resulting in X-Rite developing the CAPSURE portable spectrocolorimeter —a digital device that measures and interprets color using Munsell nomenclature. Scientists developed this digital color analysis tool to promote objectivity in distinguishing color change instead of relying on a researcher’s subjective interpretations (X-Rite, 2025). Both the MSCC book and digital reference tools quantify the qualitative values of hue, value, and chroma corresponding to a specific color that Munsell developed in his book, A Color Notation (Munsell, 1905).
This pilot study examines the consistency of the digital Munsell device compared to a visual qualitative inspection in a forensic anthropological context using human crania. Due to its non-destructive nature, researchers can use the tool directly on the bone, much like its manual counterpart (X-Rite, 2025). Researchers emphasized digital Munsell devices in archaeological contexts, often pairing these devices with photographic imagery and samples of soils, clay, and pottery, or in studies of nonhuman remains (Bloch et al., 2021; Milotta et al., 2018).
For this research, I used the CAPSURE device and the manual MSCC to evaluate bregma, the intersection of the sagittal and coronal sutures, on 10 donated human crania from the FGCU Human Identity and Trauma Analysis (HITA) Laboratory Private Anatomical Gift Donation Collection (White et al., 2012, p. 11). I compared the results to determine if there was consistency between the methods, and I found that the digital Munsell device consistently matched the color results of the manual method.
This research bridges a gap in the literature by assessing the consistency of technological advancements in a field that scientists have used for decades, while also introducing additional avenues for further research into the adoption of technology to supplement taphonomic observations in the field of forensic anthropology.