FORENSICS

  • Learning Modules
    • Age Estimation
    • Ancestry
      • Ancestry: Cranium
      • Ancestry: Dentition
    • Sex Determination
    • Pathology
    • Stature Estimation
    • Taphonomy
      • Animal Activity
      • Burial Damage
      • Fire Damage
      • Mineral Absorption
      • Weathering
  • Case Files
  • Glossary
  • News
  • FAQ
  • Age Estimation
  • Ancestry
  • Stature Estimation
  • Taphonomy
    • Animal Activity
    • Burial Damage
    • Fire Damage
    • Mineral Absorption
    • Weathering

Taphonomy

January 11, 2017 By Adrienne Witzel

Pathology and taphonomy are two sides to a coin.  While pathology may help to determine a cause of death, taphonomy helps to determine what happened to remains at or after death.   In other words, in order to accurately assess a cause of death, you must be able to decipher which skeletal manifestations happened prior to death, and which happened after death.  Obviously, a bone broken by a growing tree root will have vastly different implications than a bone broken just before death.  There are several different forces (but not all) that result in taphonomic damage:

Animal Activity

Animals can have little to profound impact on remains, leaving behind signals that can aid in everything from identifying the burial location, type of animal responsible for the activity, and even the season within which the remains were deposited.

Burial Damage

Identifying burial processes can be used to determine the length of burial, and help determine between antimortem pathologies, perimortem injuries, and postmortem damages.

Fire Damage

Burning uses a unique signature that is easily identified with a bit of practice.  Fire damage is one of the less common thaphonomic signatures found in burial sites, though it may be useful in determining between accidental fires and arson.

Mineral Absorption

Unusual coloring left on remains can be used to identify materials included in a burial, from from man-made metals to natural organic compounds.

Weathering

Weathering and erosion are natural forces that can alter the general look of bone, as well has help to identify burial process or lack thereof.

 

Acknowledgements

Department of anthropology

University of Texas at Austin

Liberal Arts Instructional Technology Services

Production Credits

About

eForensics provides interactive environment using real cold cases as examples for forensic anthropology techniques. If you have problems using this site, or have other questions, please feel free to contact us.

Images and content are created by faculty, staff, and students at the University of Texas. All photographs, images, and text are copyrighted by eForensics, John Kappelman, or the University of Texas at Austin, and licensed by Creative Commons. Reproduction or recreation is permitted under not for profit circumstances and enterprises with proper attribution to eSkeletons.org.

eAnthro Digital Laboratories

3D Printing

eANTHRO LABS

eFOSSILS

eSKELETONS

eLUCY