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Identifying Blunt Force Traumatic Injury on Thermally Altered Remains: A Pilot Study Using Sus scrofa.

Kamryn Keys¹, Ann H Ross¹

¹Department of Biological Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA.

|January 21, 2022

Summary

Forensic anthropology needs better methods to distinguish blunt force trauma from fire damage on human bones. This study found that blunt force trauma signatures remain identifiable even after burning, aiding in forensic analysis.

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Area of Science:

Forensic Anthropology
Bioarchaeology
Skeletal Biology

Background:

Human remains are often burned in homicides to conceal identity or trauma.
Fire exposure can obscure, mimic, or destroy traumatic injuries on bone.
Current criteria for differentiating thermal effects from trauma in forensic anthropology are insufficient.

Purpose of the Study:

To identify diagnostic criteria for distinguishing blunt force trauma from fire damage on bone.
To supplement existing forensic anthropological literature on burned bone analysis.
To improve the accuracy of trauma assessment in burned human remains.

Main Methods:

Blunt force trauma was inflicted on pig skulls (Sus scrofa) using a crowbar and hammer.
Control specimens without trauma were included.

Keywords:

blunt force trauma forensic anthropology forensic science thermal alteration thermal fractures

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Skulls were subjected to open-air burning until calcination.

Main Results:

Blunt force trauma signatures were identifiable on burned bone fragments.
Distinct fracture patterns for thermal damage and blunt force trauma were observed.
Reassembly of fragments aided in trauma identification.

Conclusions:

Blunt force trauma evidence can survive postmortem burning.
Differentiating thermal fractures from trauma fractures is possible.
This research can refine diagnostic criteria for burned bone analysis in forensic investigations.