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Thesis
RISEN FROM THE ASHES
University of West Florida
Master of Arts (MA), University of West Florida
2017
Abstract
Identification of human remains that have undergone burning, or cremation, can be a difficult task for the forensic anthropologist. The human body undergoes numerous changes when exposed to fire, but most notable is the severe fragmentation and disfiguration of bone. These taphonomic changes limit the methods that may be applied to reconstruct the biological profile (age-at-death, ancestry, living stature, and sex) of the decedent. This is compounded by the fact that there are currently no available cremation-specific methods for reconstructing biological profile. This project was designed as an exploratory study to determine whether development of such methods was a feasible endeavor. Forty-nine cremations (40 unprocessed, 9 processed) from the William M. Bass Donated Skeletal Collection were analyzed to determine which skeletal elements survive the cremation process and whether they could be utilized in the creation of new methods. Examination of the data collected revealed the potential for new methods for estimating the sex of a decedent through both metric and non-metric assessment of skeletal elements that were found to survive cremation. No potential methods for the estimation of age-at-death, ancestry, or living stature could be identified in this study, however.
Details
- Title
- RISEN FROM THE ASHES
- Resource Type
- Thesis
- Publisher
- University of West Florida
- Format
- text
- Identifiers
- 99380090861506600
- Academic Unit
- Anthropology
- Language
- English
- Awarding Institution
- University of West Florida; Master of Arts (MA)
- Theses and Dissertations
- Master of Arts (MA), University of West Florida