Taphonomy Flashcards
forensic taphonomy
analyze decomposition and environmental changes to the soft and hard tissues immediately after death
what are the different ways to scatter remains?
- natural scatter
- animal predation
- human scatter
- can also be a combination
natural scatter
when undergoing decomposition, joints deteriorate in a systematic manner
- synovial
- cartilaginous
- fibrous
what are the weakest joints?
synovial joints
what are the last joints to separate?
fibrous joints
what are the two types of animal predadation?
carnivores and rodents
carnivore modification
- modify soon after death
- round or oval indentations
- crushing fractures
- gnaw marks from grooves and scratches
rodent modification
- do not start to modify until most of the soft tissue is gone
- parallel marks on the bone
- are more v-shaped
what are the natural taphonomic agents?
- weathering
- water
- heat
- soil
- plants
delamination
occurs when the outer layer of the cortical bone begins to peel away from the underlying layers
sun bleaching
bones to appear white, can also cause the bone to be flakey
soil staining
direct contact with soil can cause the bone to stain different colors due to the minerals in the soil
what are the color changes in bone from fire in the order of least to most burned?
yellow light brown black blue-grey white
calcined
- stage of whitish grey colorization
- once all the organic compounds have been removed
perimortem
trauma at the time of death
