Quantification

• Quantification

  How many individuals present?

  Most methods are inappropriate or unusable in forensic casework except for:

  MNI – Minimum Number of Individuals

  MLNI – Most likely Number of Individuals

  MaxNI – Maximum Number of Individuals
• Minimum Number of Individuals (MNI)

  •Avoid counting same individuals twice

  •Skeletal elements must not overlap – must share an identifying landmark

  •Sort bones by side and skeletal element (sex? Age? Etc)

  •Take the greatest number of skeletons as the estimate MNI = Max L or Max R of any single skeletal element

  Grand minimum total = L+R-P (P=pairs)
• Which to use

  •MNI underestimates significantly until the large majority of remains are recovered

  •MLNI can overestimate individuals, but is generally more accurate