User:Cheesecakestarship/Forensic Taphonomy

What is Forensic Taphonomy:
Forensic Taphonomy is more of a descriptive term than a practical boundary, as there is a lot of overlap between analytical techniques, data collection, analysis, and objectives with other fields, like Anthropology and Palaeontology. Forensic Taphonomy is the study of changes that occur in biological remains from death until recovery and analysis. Specifically, it focuses on burial, decay, and preservation. In 1940, Ivan Efremov, a soviet palaeontologist, coined the subject as "The laws of embedding" or Burial.

Taphonic Process and Effect:
In forensic taphonomy, there is two types of events; a process and an effect. A taphonomic process is a process of how a bone becomes modified, examples which may explain modification observed when collecting the bone can be, but are not limited to, sediment agitation, trampling digestion, etc. A taphonomic effect is the occurrence of an alteration to a bone, like staining, leaching of minerals content, bleaching, tooth marks, or abraded areas etc. In the context of the bone being found outside, some causes of these effects may be due to scavengers, plants, water, soil, gravity etc.

Environmental Factors:
The environment surrounding the remains found can provide various ideas of how the state of the remains are occurred or developed. The are two types of environmental factors; Extrinsic and Intrinsic. Extrinsic factors consists of abiotic and biotic variables. Abiotic variable are non living physical factors like temperature, humidity, precipitation, oxygen availability, pH, solar radiation, body disposition, and trauma. While biotic means living organisms in the ecosystem like microbes, arthropods, vertebrates scavengers, and etc. Intrinsic factors consist of antemortem health, biology, and physiology of the remains like body mass, sex, age, health, and microbiome. These factors may be interconnected causing a increase or decrease in decomposition. Or may cause a decomposition outcome like liquefication, desiccation, mummification, adipocere formation, and or a combination.

Types of Environmental:
Human remains may appear in a variety of different environments which will each effect the outcome of the remains differently, some examples may consist of but not limited to; dry/hot, icy/cold, bog, and or marine type environments.

Dry Environments
In dry environments its not uncommon for natural mummification to occur. This outcome would typically be seen on sandy, and or dry soil in arid climates.

Ice Environments
Icy environments can be considered excellent for long term preservation of soft tissue. The acts of snow and or ice covering the remains can heavily enhance the affects, protecting the remains from scavengers and tissue degradation.

Bog Environments
Bog typically refers to wetlands with a large accumulation of decomposing plant material, like moss (genus Sphagnum). Common characteristics of bog environments include high acidic water containing Tannins, aerobic conditions, and large scavengers. Its also not uncommon for bog type areas to preserve soft tissue for long terms, causing confusion between historic bone and forensic interest bone.

Marine Environments
Aquatic habitats have higher opportunities for biological organisms to populate decomposing remains compared to on land habitats, causing taphonomic alterations and distinctive characteristics. This type of environment is also known to cause a slow decomposition rate, due to the lack of access flies (Diptera), maggots, and early insect succession have to the carcass. Through the stages of decomposition only 80% of the remains body will still be under the water once bloated and floating at the surface of the water, thus insect succession is still limited. The low water temperatures found in certain marine areas can also reduce bacterial growth, slowing decomposition rate in combination to other factors. In cases of shipwrecks, remains can be isolated inhibiting macro-scavenger from reaching the remains, leaving intact and articulate skeletal remains years later.

Types of Cases Associated with Forensic Taphonomy
Cases where forensic taphonomy may play a big role consist but are not limited to outdoor locations where remains are prone to alterations and modifications. Also where remains may be exposed to the elements, and unusual patterns of dispersal or disposition may occur. Dispersal or disposition of evidence or remains may suggest human or scavenger interference.

Types of Evidence
Types of evidence investigators may come across during a case, where a high volume of environmental factors are present can consist of tree, grass cover, leaf litter, soil chemistry, animal interaction, insect interaction, terrain, past weather and temperature.

In addition to environmental evidence, generated, moved, or altered evidence during the death event can be analyzed by three questions.


 * 1) Is it forensically significant?
 * 2) What is the evidence?
 * 3) Is it linked with the death event?