Manual of Forensic Taphonomy

James T. Pokines, Ph.D., D.-A.B.F.A., is an assistant professor in the Forensic Anthropology Program in the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology at Boston University School of Medicine. Prior to this, he served for 12 years at the Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii as a forensic anthropologist and forensic archaeologist. Dr. Pokines received his B.A. in anthropology and archaeology from Cornell University, his M.A. and Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Chicago, and his A.B.F.A. board certification in forensic anthropology. His research includes taphonomy, vertebrate osteology, zooarchaeology, and paleoecology, and he has ongoing osteological research projects in the Bolivian and Peruvian Andes; Tell Timai in the Nile Delta, Egypt; and the Paleolithic of northern Jordan. He is also the Forensic Anthropologist for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, Boston. Steven A. Symes, PhD., D.-A.B.F.A., is an associate professor in the Applied Forensic Sciences and Anthropology Departments at Mercyhurst University in Erie, Pennsylvania. Symes is a US forensic anthropologist best known for his expertise in interpreting trauma to bone and a leading authority on saw and knife mark analysis. With 30 years experience, he has assisted federal, state, local, and non-US authorities in the identification, analysis, and documentation of those suspicioned to be victims of trauma. A sought-after consultant in criminal cases, Dr. Symes has been qualified as an expert for both the prosecution and defense, testifying specifically on forensic tool mark and fracture pattern interpretation in bone, as well as blunt force, ballistic, burned and healing trauma in bone. Because of his specialty in criminal dismemberment and mutilation, he has worked a number of serial homicides, and has provided analysis of cut marks in nearly 200 dismemberment cases and roughly 400 knife wound cases. Before coming to Mercyhurst University, Dr. Symes spent 16 years as forensic anthropologist for the medical examiner’s office at the Regional Forensic Center for Shelby County, Tennessee. He has been involved with hands-on forensic anthropology since 1979, when he became the graduate assistant to Dr. William M. Bass, founder of the Anthropological Research Center at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. In addition, he has authored more than 50 publications and delivered over 100 papers, lectures and workshops on a variety of forensic anthropology topics.

Introduction: Collection of Macroscopic Osseous Taphonomic Data and the Recognition of Taphonomic Suites of Characteristics; James T. Pokines


Microscopic Destruction of Bone; Miranda M.E. Jans


Human Decomposition Ecology and Postmortem Microbiology; Franklin E. Damann and David O. Carter


Bone Density and Bone Attrition; R. Lee Lyman


Effects of Burial Environment on Osseous Remains; James T. Pokines and Joan E. Baker


Fluvial Taphonomy; Thomas Evans
Marine Environmental Alterations to Bone; Nicholas D. Higgs and James T. Pokines


Contemporary Cultural Alterations to Bone; Josephine M. Paolello and Alexandra R. Klales


Faunal Dispersal, Reconcentration, and Gnawing Damage to Bone in Terrestrial Environments; James T. Pokines


Deposition and Dispersal of Human Remains as a Result of Criminal Acts: Homo sapiens sapiens as a Taphonomic Agent; Derek Congram


Subaerial Weathering; Christine A. Junod and James T. Pokines


Taphonomic Bone Staining and Color Changes in Forensic Contexts; Tosha L. Dupras and John J. Schultz


Taphonomy and the Timing of Bone Fractures in Trauma Analysis; Steven A. Symes, Ericka N. L’Abbé, Kyra E. Stull, Marcelle LaCroix, and James T. Pokines


Thermal Alteration to Bone; Steven A. Symes, Ericka N. L’Abbé, James T. Pokines, Taylor Yuzwa, Diana Messer, Amy Stromquist, and Natalie Keough


DNA Survivability in Skeletal Remains; Krista E. Latham and Megan E. Madonna


Avian Taphonomy; James T. Pokines and Stephanie E. Baker


Effects of Recovery Methods; James T. Pokines and Joan E. Baker


Appendix A: Macroscopic Osseous Taphonomy Checklist; James T. Pokines


Appendix B: Microscopic Osseous Taphonomy Checklist; Miranda M.E. Jans


Index