Taphonomy, forensic

The rate of cadaver decomposition in soil can be affected by how often a particular site is subjected to cadaveric material. Microbial degradation is typically described as having three phases. The initial lag phase is defined by microbial or enzymatic enrichment. During the second phase the substrate is rapidly degraded. This is followed by a declining phase that results from a lack of readily available substrate or formation of humic substances (Ajwa and Tabatabai 1994). Forensic taphonomy holds that the burial of a number of cadavers in soil over time will result in an increased number of soil microorganisms (Janaway 1996). Experiments using controlled burial environment... 

Berryman, H. E. (2002). Disarticulation pattern and tooth mark artifacts associated with pig scavenging of human remains A case study, in Advances in Forensic Taphonomy Method, Theory and Archaeological Perspectives (W. D. Haglund and M. H. Sorg, Eds.). Boca Raton, FL CRC Press, 487-495. 

Carter, D. O. and Tibbett, M. (2002). Forensic taphonomy The adaptation of the soil microbial decomposer community to soft tissue burial, in Proceedings of the 33rd International Symposium on Archaeometry, 22-26 April 2002, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (H. Kars and E. Burke, Eds.). Amsterdam Institute for Geo- and Bioarchaeology, Vrije Universiteit, 453-456. 

Carter, D. (2005). Forensic taphonomy Processes associated with cadaver decomposition in soil. Ph.D. thesis, James Cook University, Townsville, Australia. 

In forensic taphonomy we are familiar with the concept of differential survival of biomaterials. Hair does not survive universally, suggesting that degradation or contamination will be variable in recovered hair fibers. As with many biomaterials, hair degradation occurs most rapidly immediately postdeposition. The progress of hair degradation is largely defined by variables within the depositional environment. Add to that burial environment the... 

Textile Degradation Experiments 7.6.1 Experiments in Forensic Taphonomy... 

Aturaliya, S. and Lukasewycz, A. (1999). Experimental forensic and bioanthropo-logical aspects of soft tissue taphonomy 1 Factors influencing postmortem tissue desiccation rate. /. Forensic Sci. 44, 893-896. 

Love, J. C. and Marks, M. K. (2002). Taphonomy and time, estimating the postmortem interval, in Hard Evidence Case Studies in Forensic Anthropology (D. W. Steadman, Ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ Prentice Hall, 160-175. 

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