Fundamentals of Forensic Taphonomy

• The Context

  •Death

  •Attended

  •Non-attended

  •Cultural Variance

  •The medico-legal context

  •Sudden

  •Unexpected

  •Unknown
• The Medico-Legal Context

  •Medico-legal death investigation:

  •Cause of death

  •Manner of death

  •Post-mortem interval/Time-Death interval

  •Biological and social identity

  •The role of the FA within this context

  •Discriminate post-mortem damage or change from peri-mortem trauma or ante-mortem chararcteristics

  •Assist in establishing the identity of the deceased
• Taphonomy – A History

  •The term comes from the latin for laws of burial:

  •Taphos = Burial

  •Nomos = Laws

  •Defined as “The study of the processes by which organic remains pass from the biosphere to the lithosphere” by Ivan Efremov  in1940

  •An understanding of taphonomy allows fossilisation and preservation within the fossil record to be explained.
• Two Phases of Taphonomic Change

  •Separated by palaeontologists

  •Biostratinomy

  •Between death and burial

  •Includes:

  •Disarticulation

  •Dispersal

  •Accumulation

  •Fossilisation

  •Mechanical alteration

  •Diagenesis

  •Between burial and recovery
• Taphonomic Processes

  •Although taphonomic processes gradually cause loss of information e.g. scavenging removing evidence of trauma, they also have the ability to add information

  •The FA interprets these changes, particularly in relation to bone to discern their cause e.g. nature, time or human interaction

  •Consideration of biological, cultural and environmental influences
• Forensic Taphonomy

  •Interested in more recent remains (approx. last 70-100 years)

  •Determination of causative factors of destruction or damage to bone

  •Understanding how remains can move or be altered over time

  •Recognising and understanding the human or non-human causes of bone modification
• Definitions of processes

  Disarticulation – occurs decomposition causes loss soft tissue so bones not held together

  Dispersal – separation of these bones by natural events, including water, scavenging etc.

  Accumulation – this happens when there is a gathering of this same organic matter in one place caused by scavenging or humans etc.

  Fossilisation – mineral rich water permeates organic material – causing a fossil

  Mechanical alteration – processes that physically alter the remains –eg freeze/thaw, burial, transport etc.