Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
THE TAPHONOMIC RESEARCH PERSPECTIVE
There are three key characteristics of the taphonomic research perspective, which in turn
shape the field's research methods (
Sorg and Haglund, 2002
). First, postmortem changes
cannot be understood outside their environmental context. Second, death is best understood
as an ecological phenomenon: the corpse changes its immediate environment, the environ-
ment changes the corpse, and the entire process involves a complex relationship between
communities of plants and animals, climate and weather, and soils and geology. The ecolog-
ical perspective leads to the third characteristic of taphonomic research as an interdisci-
plinary research endeavor.
By interpreting human skeletal remains as a product of the context in which they were
discovered, taphonomy adopts an ecological perspective, which focuses on human remains
as the “centerpiece of a newly emerging
microenvironment
”(
Sorg and Haglund, 2002
:5).
This perspective integrates information about ecological processes of decomposition,
consumption by scavengers, dispersal, and assimilation involving plants, animals, and
microorganisms that become associated with the decomposing body. All of these changes
create a new microenvironment immediately surrounding the body that continues to change
through time.
Ultimately, as a result of these natural processes, once-living organisms are reduced to
their constituent molecules after death. The term for this process is
decomposition
, which
quite literally refers to the breaking down of the organic composition of a once-living
organism. Decomposition includes both (1) the self-destruction of cells by their own
enzymatic action (
autolysis
) and (2) breakdown by other living organisms in the
surrounding ecological community (
putrefaction
by microorganisms, consumption and
assimilation by animal scavengers including insects, and chemical or physical breakdown
caused by plants). In addition, nonbiological processes such as erosion, temperature, and
moisture can speed, delay, or otherwise influence chemical reactions. It is important to
note that these processes occur on land as well as in water environments.
Due to the wide-ranging effects of biological, chemical, and physical agents, taphonomy is
interdisciplinary, potentially requiring a broad range of expertise spanning the natural
sciences. The importance of context and the significance of ecological factors require the
expertise of many disciplines in order to fully understand the various life forms involved,
and their potential impact on the condition of the remains. Current taphonomic research is
conducted cooperatively by zoologists, botanists, pedologists (soil scientists), and geologists,
as well as archaeologists and biological anthropologists. For example, entomologists
contribute knowledge about the identification of insects associated with the body and the
timing of their developmental states, which allows them to estimate how much time has
passed since the death. Botanists identify plants associated with the remains, which may
reveal when a body was moved from one location to another.
In all forensic applications, the taphonomic approach views the human remains within
the context of discovery. This means that collecting details about the location and environ-
mental characteristics of the site where the remains were found is often just as important as
information regarding the condition of the remains themselves. For example, bodies
decompose more slowly in cooler temperatures, so knowing the temperature of the area
