Human Body Decomposition

Author: Jarvis Hayman
Publisher: Academic Press
ISBN: 012803713X
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 165

Book Description
The fate of the human body after death is a subject that has fascinated enquirers, both in the scientific and legal realms for millennia. However, objective research into the causes and nature of human decomposition has only taken place in the last two centuries, and quantitative measurement of the process as a means of estimating the time of death has only recently been attempted. The substantial literature concerning this research has been published in numerous scientific journals since the beginning of the nineteenth century. Human Body Decomposition expands on the current literature to include the evolving research on estimating the time of death. This volume details the process of decomposition to include early period after death when the body cools to ambient temperature, and when the body begins to putrefy. This process is significant because the estimation of the time of death becomes increasingly more difficult when the body begins to putrefy.Human Body Decomposition compiles a chronological account of research into the estimation of the time since death in human bodies found decomposed in order that researchers in the subject field can concentrate their thoughts and build on what has been achieved in the past. - Provides concise details of research, over the last 200 years, of estimating the time of death in decomposed bodies. - Covers methods of research into human decomposition in the stages of body cooling to ambient temperature and the later stages of autolysis, putrefaction and skeletonisation. - Includes a detailed account of recent research and future concepts. - Concludes with an account of the difficulties which future research into human decomposition will encounter.

Technologies of the Human Corpse

Author: John Troyer
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262542315
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 268

Book Description
“One of our greatest thinkers” on death presents a radical new approach to thinking about dying and the human corpse (Caitlin Doughty, mortician and bestselling author of Smoke Gets in Your Eyes). A fascinating exploration of the relationship between technology and the human corpse throughout history—from 19th-century embalming machines to 21st-century death-prevention technologies. Death and the dead body have never been more alive in the public imagination—not least because of current debates over modern medical technology that is deployed, it seems, expressly to keep human bodies from dying, blurring the boundary between alive and dead. In this book, John Troyer examines the relationship of the dead body with technology, both material and conceptual: the physical machines, political concepts, and sovereign institutions that humans use to classify, organize, repurpose, and transform the human corpse. Doing so, he asks readers to think about death, dying, and dead bodies in radically different ways. Troyer explains, for example, how technologies of the nineteenth century including embalming and photography, created our image of a dead body as quasi-atemporal, existing outside biological limits formerly enforced by decomposition. He describes the “Happy Death Movement” of the 1970s; the politics of HIV/AIDS corpse and the productive potential of the dead body; the provocations of the Body Worlds exhibits and their use of preserved dead bodies; the black market in human body parts; and the transformation of historic technologies of the human corpse into “death prevention technologies.” The consequences of total control over death and the dead body, Troyer argues, are not liberation but the abandonment of Homo sapiens as a concept and a species. In this unique work, Troyer forces us to consider the increasing overlap between politics, dying, and the dead body in both general and specifically personal terms.

Estimation of the Time Since Death

Author: Jarvis Hayman
Publisher: Academic Press
ISBN: 9780128157312
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 300

Book Description
Estimation of the Time Since Death is a current comprehensive work on the methods and research advances into the time since death and human decomposition. This work provides practitioners a starting point for research and practice to assist with the identification and analysis of human remains. It contains a collection of the latest scientific research, various estimation methods, and includes case studies, to highlight methodological application to real cases.This reference first provides an introduction, including the early post-mortem period, biochemical methods, and the value of entomology in estimating the time since death, along with other factors affecting the decomposition process. Further coverage explores importance of microbial communities in estimating time since death. Separate chapters on aquatic environments, carbon 14 dating and amino acid racemization, and total body scoring will round out the reference. A concluding chapter summarizes research and outline the direction it should follow. Chapters are written by practicing physical anthropologists and also include their latest research on the topics, as well as, relevant case studies. Estimation of the Estimation of the Time Since Death Current Research and Future Trends is a one of a kind resource for those involved in determining the time since death in decomposing human remains. The first comprehensive reference bringing together all aspects of knowledge relating to the estimation of the post-mortem interval in decomposed human bodies Contains real case studies to underscore key estimation concepts Demonstrates the changing role of technology and advances in the estimation of time since death

Forensic Medicine of the Lower Extremity

Author: Jeremy Rich
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 158829269X
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 425

Book Description
Annotation This book covers human identification, trauma analysis, and forensic biomechanics of the foot, ankle, tibia, and femur as frequently encountered in mass casualty incidents, human decomposition, and human rights abuse investigations.

Taphonomy of Human Remains

Author: Eline M. J. Schotsmans
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1118953320
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 546

Book Description
A truly interdisciplinary approach to this core subject within Forensic Science Combines essential theory with practical crime scene work Includes case studies Applicable to all time periods so has relevance for conventional archaeology, prehistory and anthropology Combines points of view from both established practitioners and young researchers to ensure relevance

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers

Author: Mary Roach
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393324826
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 305

Book Description
A look inside the world of forensics examines the use of human cadavers in a wide range of endeavors, including research into new surgical procedures, space exploration, and a Tennessee human decay research facility.

The Mummy Congress

Author: Heather Pringle
Publisher: Hachette Books
ISBN: 0786871865
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 307

Book Description
Mummies, experts, and breaking science revealed in journalist Pringle's fascinating dive into a little-known arena of human studies. Perhaps the most eccentric of all scientific meetings, the World Congress on Mummy Studies brings together mummy experts from all over the globe and airs their latest findings. Who are these scientists, and what draws them to this morbid yet captivating field? The Mummy Congress, written by acclaimed science journalist Heather Pringle, examines not just the world of mummies, but also the people obsessed with them.

Death's Acre

Author: William Bass
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101204729
Category : True Crime
Languages : en
Pages : 320

Book Description
“Fans of the forensics-oriented novels of such mystery writers as Kathy Reichs and Patricia Cornwell...not to mention television series like CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, will make an eager audience for this one.”—Booklist On a patch of land in the Tennessee hills, human corpses decompose in the open air, aided by insects, bacteria, and birds, unhindered by coffins or mausoleums. This is Bill Bass’s “Body Farm,” where nature takes its course as bodies buried in shallow graves, submerged in water, or locked in car trunks serve the needs of science and the cause of justice. In Death’s Acre, Bass invites readers on an unprecedented journey behind the gates of the Body Farm where he revolutionized forensic anthropology. A master scientist and an engaging storyteller, Bass reveals his most intriguing cases for the first time. He revisits the Lindbergh kidnapping and murder, explores the mystery of a headless corpse whose identity astonished police, divulges how the telltale traces of an insect sent a murderous grandfather to death row—and much more. INCLUDES PHOTOGRAPHS

Soil Analysis in Forensic Taphonomy

Author: Mark Tibbett
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 1420069926
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 366

Book Description
A burial environment is a complex and dynamic system. It plays host to an abundance of interdependent chemical, physical, and biological processes, which are greatly influenced by the inclusion of a body and its subsequent decay. However, while taphonomy continues to emerge as a valuable forensic tool, until now most of the attention has been on th

Criminal and Environmental Soil Forensics

Author: Karl Ritz
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1402092040
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 534

Book Description
Soils have important roles to play in criminal and environmental forensic science. Since the initial concept of using soil in forensic investigations was mooted by Conan Doyle in his Sherlock Holmes stories prior to real-world applications, this branch of forensic science has become increasingly sophisticated and broad. New techniques in chemical, physical, biological, ecological and spatial analysis, coupled with informatics, are being applied to reducing areas of search by investigators, site identification, site comparison and measurement for the eventual use as evidence in court. Soils can provide intelligence, in assisting the determination of the provenance of samples from artifacts, victims or suspects, enabling their linkage to locations or other evidence. They also modulate change in surface or buried cadavers and hence affect the ability to estimate post-mortem or post-burial intervals, and locate clandestine graves. This interdisciplinary volume explores the conceptual and practical interplay of soil and geoforensics across the scientific, investigative and legal fields. Supported by reviews, case-studies from across the world, and reports of original research, it demonstrates the increasing convergence of a wide range of knowledge. It covers conceptual issues, evidence (from recovery to use in court), geoforensics, taphonomy, as well as leading-edge technologies. The application of the resultant soil forensics toolbox is leading to significant advances in improving crime detection, and environmental and national security.