ANT205H5 Lecture Notes - Alkali Soil, Axial Skeleton, Blunt Trauma
Document Summary
Definitions, matching, mostly short answers on the test. Forensic taphonomy: post mortem (pm)changes to bone, what happened to body between time of death and the time of discovery, peri mortem means around the time of death, ante mortem means before death. Why study taphonomy: position, colour, weathering, erosion, consistent with. Where and how the body is found. Animal, human, gravity, h2o: elapsed time since death = post-mortem interval, evidence. Altered, added to, lost: peri trauma vs. pm damage, forensic significance. Yes, because of the charred uneven parts. Used stick to stir and breakup body parts: bone is broken and fragmentary, taphonomic changes are consistent. Case 98-02: defense claims defendant didn"t kill victim. He moved body only: trauma caused by dragging victim behind pickup truck on gravel road, no erosion of bone on back of skull, no gravel pitting or embedded gravel. No road rash: taphonomic changes are not consistent with defendant"s claims.
