A new study has claimed to have solved the mystery of what happened to US aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart.
The study - published in the journal Forensic Anthropology - contends that a collection of bones discovered on the Pacific Island of Nikumaroro in 1940 were likely to be Earhart's remains.
Earhart was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean and disappeared while attempting to fly around the world in 1937.
A crowd cheers Amelia Earhart in Londonderry, Northern Ireland. Source: AAP
The 39-year-old was flying between Papua New Guinea and Howland Island in the Pacific when she vanished.
The study says that one of the "most tantalising clues" in the case were skeletal remains found on Nikumaroro Island in 1940.
But the remains had been dismissed as a forensic analysis in 1941 concluded the bones as belonging to a male.
The new Forensic Anthropology study challenges this claim as "forensic osteology was not yet a well-developed discipline at the time".
An undated photo of Amelia Earhart. Source: AAP
"(The previous) sex assessment of the Nikumaroro bones cannot be assumed to be correct."
And although the bones were subsequently lost, the new analysis "reveals that Earhart is more similar to the Nikumaroro bones than 99 per cent of individuals in a large reference sample".
"This strongly supports the conclusion that the Nikumaroro bones belonged to Amelia Earhart," it says.
Amelia Earhart before takeoff in Miami in 1937. Source: AAP
At the time of her disappearance, Amelia Earhart was one of the most famous people in the world.
A number of theories emerged about what happened to her - ranging from running out of fuel and perishing at sea to being captured by Japanese forces.
