ANTH 001 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Unidentified Decedent, Radiocarbon Dating, Forensic Anthropology
9 Jun 2020
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Document Summary
Evidence of trephination (cranial surgery) or other ancient medical practices are indicative of a non-contemporary origin. Sometimes burials are disturbed when construction is done and forensic anthropologists are called to see if the remains are contemporary or not. Discovery of non-contemporary remains is the accidental uncovering of historic cemetery burials that have lose their grave markers (construction/roadwork) These remains are not considered medicolegally significant, as the individual"s death would have been investigated previously and the individual already identified. Therefore, these discovered are concerned w/ re-associating the remains to the burial plot/potentially contacting any living relatives depending on the date of the burial. Bomb curve radiocarbon method is used to date human remains. Can provide valuable data and may become practical in the future of forensic death investigation. At death, organisms stop taking in carbon, and the c14 begins radioactive decay. Best-established methods are those relating to artificial radiocarbon dating w/ special reference to the modern bomb curve.
