Webster-Mirriam defines stature as the natural height (of an individual) in a standing position. Height estimation is important for individualization in forensic cases and mass disasters. Along with assessments of age, sex, and ancestry, stature estimation aids a forensic anthropologist in constructing the biological profile of an unidentified decedent (DiGangi, Moore). Research has shown that measuring the length of long bones is the most useful for estimating an individual's lifetime stature when the complete skeleton is not available (DiGangi, Moore). According to DiGangi and Moore, when considering height estimation the following generalizations can be made: • Height in humans increases until adulthood and tends to decrease with advancing age after approximately 45 years • There is variation considerable within a single population • On average, male stature is greater than female stature • Studies by Li et al., 2004; MacGregor et al., 2006; Perola et al., 2007 showed that 65% to 90% of height is due to heredity. Lifetime stature should only be estimated after assessing age, sex, and ancestry due to different levels of sexual dimorphism, growth, skeletal generation, and population variation The need for reliable methods for identifying unknown remains became clearer in the post-World War II period, when attempts were made to identify the remains of deceased soldiers. Extensive work in estimating stature from skeletal remains has been done using World War II remains as the sample set. The two main methods for estimating height from skeletal remains are the anatomical and regression methods. The anatomical method measures all the bones that directly contribute to height and then uses a correction factor to account for so… half of the paper… by Raxter et. al., indicate that stature estimates using the anatomical method are strongly correlated with living statures, however, due to systematic errors, underestimates of almost 2.4 cm are often observed (Raxter et. al., 2006). The main disadvantage of Fully's anatomical method is that all contributing skeletal elements must be present for measurement, which is not always the case in mass disaster, archaeological or forensic cases. When nearly entire skeletons are available, however, this method is strongly correlated with lifetime stature and provides an estimate closer to actual height than other methods (Raxter). Despite the disadvantages of this method, Ousley stated that “…the best possible estimate of biological stature from the skeleton would be the Fully method or a variation thereof, since it incorporates all the skeletal components of stature”.