Forensics Journal - Stevenson University 2012 | Page 43

FORENSICS JOURNAL

In 1971, Dr. William Bass, of the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, began the forensic anthropology program that ultimately
resulted in the creation of the forensic anthropology research facility,
or “Body Farm,” to study post mortem changes. Dr. Bass has worked
on excavated human remains, both archaeological and forensic, since
the late 1950s. It was during a potential murder investigation that he
determined how little forensic anthropologists know about decomposition under various circumstances (Bass & Jefferson, 2003, p.
89). The potential murder investigation involved an embalmed Civil
War colonel. All forensic indicators, including condition of the body
pointed to a murder and burial which occurred a few months prior
to discovery. The county sheriff and his deputies investigating the
remains all thought the victim had been dead only a few months. This
time-since-death was thought to have been confirmed by the body’s
state of decomposition. As the body had been found on top of the
coffin, rather than inside, authorities believed it to have been because
of a failed grave robbery. It was the clothing which gave clues to the
corpse being older than the two to six months deceased originally
postulated. Both the embalming process and the sealed lead coffin
assisted in preserving the body from normal decomposition processes.
What was originally believed to have been a murder of a few months
prior turned out to be an attempted grave robbery of a 113-year-old
body! (Bass & Jefferson, 2003, p. 68-69).

In life, as in death, all humans display individual visual characteristics. Skeletal remains not only show age-at-death and gender, but
also racial characteristics. While long bones are able to provide some
racial characteristics, the skull provides the majority of these racial
identifiers. Racial characteristics are divided into three classifications,
each with visual and measurable differentiations: Caucasoid, Negroid,
and Mongoloid (including Native American). As with age and gender
determinations, racial determinations are only estimations due to
intermarriage as well as cross-characteristics (Bass, 2005, p. 83).
Caucasoid characteristics include a longer, narrower face, narrow
nasal opening and a narrow high-bridged nose. Negroid characteristics include little or no nasal depression, rounded forehead, and a
dense or ‘ivory’ texture to the bone. The teeth of the Negroid skull
also protrude from the face. Mongoloids exhibit shovel shaped incisors, nasal overgrowth, and the zygomatic bones dip below the lower
edge of the maxilla (Bass, 2005, p. 83-88). Students at the University
of Wyoming have cataloged specific measurements of the interorbital
features to determine race with a ninety percent rate of accuracy
(Bass, 2005, p. 88-92).
The use of racial characteristics to identify bodies has proven useful
in the southwestern United States, in areas of known illegal border
crossings. Undocumented border crossings (UBC) mean an increasing
number of unknown foreign nationals are succumbing to the highheat of the deserts in areas known for illegal border crossings. Racial
profiles are necessary to help differentiate between known missing
persons and unknown illegal foreign nationals.

In 1980, Dr. Bass was allowed to use an acre of land behind the University of Tennessee-Knoxville’s hospital for his forensic anthropology
research facility and received the first body donation in 1981. Bodies
donated to the facility are placed in various situations and the effect
these situations have on the bodies is carefully measured and studied.
Situations include shallow graves, partial burials, exposed remains and
even remains left in the trunk of a car. Dr. Bass described the reasons
for starting the research facility as:

The Pima County (Arizona) Office of Medical Examiner (ME)
documented their findings of the methods used to determine the
identity of the deceased (Anderson, 2008). Utilizing personal effects,
geographic location, and racial characteristics, the ME assembled a
profile. The United States Border Patrol documented geographic areas
that are known for UBC and drug smuggling. Bodies found within
these areas with personal effects typical of Mexican immigrants and
exhibiting physical characteristics consistent with Southwest Hispanics are classified as an UBC (Anderson, 2008, p. 12). The biological
profile is also compared with those of missing persons in that same
area before officially being deemed an undocumented border crosser.

The questions we hoped to answer were laughably elementary: At what point does the arm fall
off? What causes that greasy black stain under
decomposed bodies, and when? When do the
teeth fall out of the skull? How long before a
corpse becomes a skeleton? (Bass & Jefferson,
2003, p. 96)

TIME SINCE DEATH

As an academic research facility, the University of Tennessee-Knoxville
has grown to be one of the largest forensic anthropology programs
in the country. With academic programs, the research is limited only
by the curiosity of the students (and the legality of the question). It
is also because of the nature of the work and study being