Page 104 - Veritas Vol 3, Issue 2

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Term Description

The irregular or disoriented

decomposition which may happens when
an injury exposes lot of blood provides a
site for scavengers, exposure to any
physical or chemical agents or any
Differential Decomposition
bacterial infections. It gives the
informations about the health condition
of particular dead individual prior to
death and also suggests any trauma

suffered by that person

Refers to complete soft tissue destruction,
leaving only hard tissues of skeletal mass.
The term Diagenesis is used in
Skeletonization
Taphonomy to refer any change, it may be
chemical, physical or biological, to a bone

after its initial deposition

DISARTICULATION AND MOVEMENT OF BODY AFTER DEATH:

When a body is deposited on a surface or submerged instead of burying it, may
get disarticulated and skeletal elements get dispersed due to the action of

scavengers and animals, gravity, water and fluvial sediment process which may
leads to incomplete recovery. Carnivores usually drag the limbs apart from the

body and results in scattering.

Estimation of PMI in Forensic Taphonomy:
The estimation of Post Mortem Interval is very crucial since it can narrow the

pool of descendants, helps in identification, confirms or refuse reports and also
circumstances that lead to death. As the time period increases[months years], it

may cause errors in finding the potential cause of death. In this case, the PMI

can be estimated by analysing the decomposition of soft tissues and hard tissues
of skeleton. Post mortem interval can be estimated through following ways;

VERITAS VOLUME: 3, ISSUE: 2 WRITER: SAJAN SAHADEVAN