Laboratory and Field Methods in Forensic Taphonomy

Abstract

Standard forensic anthropological laboratory and field methods and procedures should include taphonomic data collection and analysis. Toward this end, this chapter discusses how taphonomy can be integrated into the analytical system for case processing, including field recovery, data collection, note taking, photography, and report writing. These analyses are aided by having standardized checklists for taphonomic effects for a given region or jurisdiction, and examples are presented for macroscopic and microscopic analyses along with some common standardized scoring systems. The integration of taphonomy into forensic anthropology also extends to graduate education, which should include a significant taphonomic component that extends beyond decomposition and also including effects accrued on skeletal materials later in the postmortem interval (PMI). Reports should include taphonomic observations and conclusions, and these are best integrated with estimations of the PMI, as the latter largely draws upon taphonomy.