Research in Forensic Taphonomy

• Research Areas in Forensic Taphonomy

  •Grave deposits and geotaphonomy

  •Effects of cultivation on buried remains

  •Decomposition and transport in water

  •Mass graves and preservation of remains

  •Post-burial disturbance

  •Mass disaster taphonomy

  •Commingling and fragment differentiation

  •Degradation of clothing

  •Taphonomy of sharp force trauma

  •Recovery bias

  •Fatal fires
• Research Areas in Forensic Taphonomy

  •Scavenging

  •Porcine

  •Canid

  •Rodent

  •Large mammal

  •Location based effects

  •Human bone mineral densities and survival

  •Environmental effects
• Limitations of Taphonomic Research

  There are a number of limitations specific to taphonomic research that must be considered:

  •Inclination to presume that there is no soft tissue i.e starting with dry bone

  •N=1

  •Reconstructions over long time periods

  •Minimal human interventions

  •Localised environments

  •Impossible to have “controlled” factors

  •Use of human analogues

  •The act of researching itself causes changes to the environment under investigation
• A Final Problem with Taphonomy - Equifinality

  •The term equifinality refers to an end point that can be reached through a variety of different pathways and from different starting points.

  •It was defined by Bertalanffy in 1949 as “reaching the same final state from different initial states” in an open system that is capable of “exchanging materials with its environment”