The mystery of Amelia Earhart’s disappearance may finally have been solved, thanks to a new forensics study that shows a very high likelihood that bones found on an island in the South Pacific are those of the trailblazing pilot.
In a new study published in Forensic Anthropology, Richard Jantz, professor emeritus of anthropology and director emeritus of the University of Tennessee-Knoxville’s Forensic Anthropology Center, determined that the bones found in 1940 on the island of Nikumaroro “have more similarity to Earhart than to 99 percent of individuals in a large reference sample.”
Jantz used new techniques to revisit the original findings of D. W. Hoodless, the physician who originally examined the bones after their discovery on the island by a British official. Hoodless determined they belonged to a man but the mistake, according to Jantz, was an honest one that’s been corrected by advancements in technology.
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A computer program called Fordisc that can classify skeletal measurements by sex and ancestry, which Jantz co-created, helped determine that the bones did, in fact, belong to a woman. Additionally, according to the university, Jantz used other sources, like clothing measurements and photos with Earhart next to scalable objects, to help determine her bone size.
His research also led Jantz to rule out the possibility the bones might have belonged to a native Pacific Islander or to one of 11 men killed when the ship Norwich City crashed on the island in 1929. It also backs his previous findings made on behalf of the International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR).
Given the statistical results of his study, coupled with other evidence found in the long search for Earhart, like a woman’s shoe and American sextant box, Jantz determined that “until definitive evidence is presented that the remains are not those of Amelia Earhart, the most convincing argument is that they are hers.”
And so it appears that one of history’s greatest mysteries is finally close to being put to rest.