Mass grave excavation and osteological evaluation of mass grave in Shaxke- Duhok

Background and Objective: anthropological evaluation of mass graves considered as one of the important steps for scientific documentation of mass graves. The main objective of this study is to investigate the exhumation, osteological evaluation and individual victim identification of a mass grave in Shaxke village, Duhok governorate, Iraqi Kurdistan region. Methods: The investigation included excavation of the graves and identification of the victims. The field study was started after taking testimonies and witnesses for locating the site of graves. The site was determined, which were excavated according to the scientific standard procedures. Sex determination, age and stature estimation were performed on the remained skeletons in the laboratory of medico-legal institute-Erbil. Results: The grave included 13bodies, 10 of them were males which constitute about 77% of the bodies and 2 of them were possibly male which are approximately 15% percent of the bodies, while the other one was not identified because of degradations happens to the bones. The results of age estimation reported that all victims were young and their age was between 17-23 years old. The results of stature revealed that 11 cases had stature more than 160cm, while only one case was less than 159 cm and the other one was not identified because of bone. All the remained bones were recorded in details for more documentation. Conclusion: This finding described the anthropological evaluation of 13 victims peshmergas mass graves in Shaxke village, Duhok governorate, Iraqi Kurdistan region.