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TAPHONOMY

المؤلف:  Max M. Houck، Jay A. Siegel

المصدر:  Fundamentals of Forensic Science

الجزء والصفحة:  210

2026-07-21

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TAPHONOMY

Taphonomy is the study of what happens to an organism from the time it dies until the time it ends up in the laboratory. In recent years, taphonomy has blossomed into a full-fledged area of study in its own right (e.g., see Haglund and Sorg, 1997); this expansion has greatly assisted the various forensic sciences that relate directly to the study of the dead. This information greatly increases the ability of investigators to assess time since death, discern premortem from postmortem effects, as shown in Figure 1, and detect subtle clues that might help lead to a killer’s identity or activity.

FIGURE 1 Taphonomic marks, such as these rodent-chewing marks, can help the forensic anthropologist to determine the order of events after a deceased person is exposed to the environment.