The Laboratory of Forensic Anthropology (LFA), created in 2014, belongs to the Centre for Functional Ecology (Forensic Anthropology and Paleobiology Group), and is located in the Department of Life Sciences of the Faculty of Sciences and Technology of the University of Coimbra (Portugal). It is mainly focused on research and teaching.
LFA holds the 21st Century Identified Skeletal Collection (CEI/XXI) with 302 individuals, all adults and with advanced age-at-death. We have been also developing a collection of human partially burned remains comprising till now of 56 individuals. Besides, there is also a collection of 73 non-Identified Individuals.
At the LFA, we test and develop methods related to the taphonomy, post-mortem interval, biological profile, identification factors, bone pathology, trauma analysis, and research in burned human skeletal remains.
If you want to do your research or an internship with us, please contact the coordinator.
You can follow our work in Facebook and Instagram, keep up to date with the news and events related to forensic anthropology and to anthropology of past populations in international and local contexts.
Research Politics
How to access the collections?
In order to access the collection, researchers must be affiliated with an academic institution or a research unit and deliver a written request to the LFA coordinator (Professor Maria Teresa Ferreira) briefly describing the proposed research. In case of students wishing to study the collection, a letter from their supervisor must be attached to the request. The CVs of the researchers must also be attached.
Request form here (EN) (PT)
Terms of Responsibility and Liability (EN) (PT)
Responsibility letter from the supervisor (EN) (PT)
I have the authorization to study the collection. What now?
You may start working on the agreed date. Be very careful with the specimens to avoid any damage on invaluable material. Do not make any material restoration.
Be sure to stick to the original plan. If you wish to make any changes, please submit those changes to the curator of the LFA.
Before leaving, a list of all studied individuals and raw data collected must be handed to the LFA as well as digital copies of the photos that were taken (if permission has been given to collect images). A copy of the research resulting papers must be given to the library of the LFA. Do not forget to acknowledge the LFA in your research-related publications and presentations (this is mandatory).
