El fuego como agente tafonómico análisis antropológico forense de marcas de corte relacionadas con el desmembramiento en restos óseos cremados

Abstract

Introduction: Forensic anthropology is a field of study associated with Legal Medicine and Physical Anthropology that analyses unidentified human remains and the circumstances surrounding death. Both dismemberment and cremation are two taphonomic alterations that complicate the anthropological examination and the analysis and interpretation of peri-mortem trauma. Their negative impact is suspected, considering the effects that these modifications have on a body separately, but scarce research has been done to study the effects of fire exposure on dismembered body parts.Hypothesis and objectives: Fire affects the detection and interpretation of sharp force trauma in dismemberment cases. The main objectives of this dissertation were: (1) To calculate the prevalence of dismemberment cases regarding the total number of cases of intentional homicide in Spain, and the number of cases in which the dismembered remains were afterwards altered with fire; (2) to analyse the influence of the post-dismemberment alteration in the anthropological examination; (3) to develop a visual guide and a flowchart to distinguish between heat-induced fractures and sharp force trauma and (4) to examine its validity and reliability; (5) to calculate the post-burning survival ratio of the inflicted cutmarks and (6) to explore the variables that affect its survival; (7) to measure the distortion that fire inflicts in the toolmarks morphology, length, width, and roughness before and after burning; and (8) to correlate the morphological and dimensional variations with each type of tool...