The Morphology of Ballistic Trauma

In forensic anthropology, bone fracture morphology provides potential evidence in the mechanism of injury or death. Specifically, the type of weapon used, the trajectory of impact, and the direction of fire can also be interpreted from internal and external bone morphology. Morphological characteristics, such as buttresses and sutures, are also applicable when analyzing ballistic trauma. This study analyzed fracture morphology of sagittal and coronal plane cranio‐maxillofacial gunshot wounds of five specimens from the Applied Anatomical Research Center’s (AARC) skeletal collection. Methodologies include enumerating and describing the etiology of ectocranial fractures, any missing bony segments, and the macroscopic fractures for each specimen. Sliding calipers were used to measure the distance (mm) of the entrance and exit wounds in relation to identifiable bony landmarks. The distribution of fractures and fracture locations on the cranio‐maxillofacial region were analyzed and assessed to determine similarities and differences among the sagittal and coronal plane gunshot wound specimens. Results indicate that radiating fractures run parallel to buttressed areas of the cranial vault in both sagittal and coronal plane gunshot wounds but run perpendicular to buttressed areas of the face in sagittal plane specimens only. The value of this research could provide additional evidence to reconstruct death histories of relatively incomplete skulls with suspected ballistic trauma. The ultimate goal is to provide the medicolegal community with a larger, more refined data set to better understand ballistic trauma by examining fracture morphologies of sagittal and coronal gunshot wounds in skeletonized human remains.