The rate and sequence of human decomposition permits forensic anthropologists to estimate time since death for remains from the forensic context. Preliminary research conducted in western Montana indicates that decomposition does not follow the patterns found in other geographic locations. The purpose of this study is to better define western Montanas unique environmental factors that affect the rate and pattern of decomposition by documenting changes in mature pigs (Sus scrofa) employed as human proxies. The pigs were deposited during the cold months of October and December and analyzed by comparing the rate and sequence of decomposition with climatological and environmental variables. The popular method of calculating accumulated degree days (ADD) to estimate time since death was tested and found to consistently underestimate the actual day of death, indicating that without alteration, this method should not be relied on for remains that have decomposed in western Montana. The results from this study confirms that Montanas cold winter slows and eventually halts decomposition, which in turn affects how remains decompose after the spring thaw. Ultimately both specimens reached complete mummification, never achieving skeletonization by the end of the study. The overall purpose of this study is to contribute to building a baseline data set for documenting decomposition in western Montanas highly variable and unpredictable weather.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:MONTANA/oai:etd.lib.umt.edu:etd-06182013-160518 |
| Date | 28 June 2013 |
| Creators | Spencer, Jessica R |
| Contributors | Dr. Ashley McKeown |
| Publisher | The University of Montana |
| Source Sets | University of Montana Missoula |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lib.umt.edu/theses/available/etd-06182013-160518/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Montana or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
Page generated in 0.0018 seconds