Indra, Lara; Lösch, Sandra (25 August 2022). Porcine Taphonomy in a Central European Forest: Implications for Forensic Casework (Unpublished). In: European Meeting on Forensic Archaeology. Dresden, Germany. 25.-26.08.2022.
Vertebrate faunal agents are a frequent taphonomic variable in outdoor forensic cases. They often affect forensic analyses by scavenging human remains, altering or destroying potential trauma, or removing body parts. Furthermore, extensive scavenging might mislead estimations of the postmortem interval (PMI). It is therefore crucial to be aware of vertebrate involvement, as well as to know the regional fauna and its potential impacts on cadavers.
To gain information about the forensically relevant scavenger community in a central European
forest, we monitored the decomposition of six domestic pig cadavers. They were exposed for five months through summer and fall near Bern, Switzerland. We observed the carcasses by motion activated wild cameras to capture vertebrate activity 24h a day. In addition, we frequently documented the decomposition status and other changes on site.
The time interval between carcass deposition and first scavenging event was between one and ca. two months. We captured several vertebrate species near the carcasses, but only mouse and red fox scavenged. Both of these taxa additionally removed and transported bones away from the site.
Although we expected typical scavengers like badgers and wild boar, we did not observe them to
scavenge at all. Therefore, when investigating human remains in European forests during summer, the examiner should consider primarily rodent and red fox impacts. Detailed knowledge about specific scavengers can facilitate the recovery of the skeleton and trauma analysis.
Item Type: |
Conference or Workshop Item (Speech) |
|---|---|
Division/Institute: |
04 Faculty of Medicine > Service Sector > Institute of Legal Medicine > Anthropology 04 Faculty of Medicine > Service Sector > Institute of Legal Medicine |
Graduate School: |
Graduate School for Cellular and Biomedical Sciences (GCB) |
UniBE Contributor: |
Indra, Lara Isabelle, Lösch, Sandra |
Subjects: |
300 Social sciences, sociology & anthropology 500 Science > 570 Life sciences; biology 600 Technology > 610 Medicine & health |
Language: |
English |
Submitter: |
Lara Isabelle Indra |
Date Deposited: |
01 Sep 2022 09:01 |
Last Modified: |
05 Dec 2022 16:23 |
Uncontrolled Keywords: |
Forensic anthropology, taphonomy |
URI: |
https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/172589 |
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