Masters Theses

Date of Award

8-2002

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Major

Anthropology

Major Professor

Murray K. Marks

Committee Members

William M. Bass, Lyle W. Konigsberg

Abstract

A plethora of research has been produced concerning the fate of human bone when it has been exposed to various external stressors. These include taphonomic processes such as natural weathering, decomposition and burning studies. Each study attempts to aid an investigator by trying to determine, for example, what exactly a human skeleton would look like after it had been exposed to an accelerated fire for thirty minutes. The result of this type of research may afford an investigator the opportunity to analyze the evidence at the crime scene and compare it to the research in order to draw educated conclusions about the actual evidence. This is not to imply that all of the questions of investigators have been answered. Rather, each new case brings more questions and more variables that need to be taken into consideration.

One such question asks if there is a way to decipher whether a body or body parts have been previously frozen by looking at the skeletal elements. The circumstances that surround this question suggest that the victim would have been frozen for some time and was taken out of the freezing element and was allowed to thaw and decompose to the state of skeletonization. Would it be possible at this point to determine whether or not this body had indeed been frozen? Or, at a more basic level, does freezing damage the histological integrity of bone to prevent osteon aging ability.

Few studies incorporate both the variable of low temperatures and human remains. However, two such studies focus on the decomposition of the soft tissue after a freeze thaw event, but none have focused on the bone itself. While there is no evidence that freezing can change the gross morphology, there has been no research concerning whether or not the microscopic structure of the bone would be altered as a result of the freezing process. This research will attempt to determine whether bone that has been previously frozen would be histologically distinguishable by looking for a patterned anomaly, such as patterned cracking.

It is possible that the microscopic structure may indicate some changes due to the blood vessels, which run throughout the bone allowing for communication and nutrient flow between bone cells, undergoing the freezing process. Freezing allows for the expansion of fluids (including bodily fluids) and possibly for the forced increase in vessel diameter which may be evident, microscopically, in a section of frozen bone as small fractures in the bone microstructure.

In order to determine whether the freezing can be identified within the bone microstructure, it is necessary to freeze several human bone sections. After the sections have been frozen for twenty one days, they are allowed to thaw in accordance with the circumstances surrounding the question. The samples are thin sectioned in order to view their microstructure. This analysis affords the opportunity to look for changes in the microstructure that may be indicative of the freezing process.

Many other questions will be raised due to this research on whether or not freezing is detectable by looking at the bone microstructure. If results suggest that freezing is detectable, it may be fruitful to ask if length of freezing, temperature at which the specimen is kept before, after and during freezing or other circumstances have an effect on whether the freezing of the bone is detectable microscopically. If however, this technique is not found to be effective in the elucidation of whether or not the bone had been previously frozen, it may be prudent to investigate whether other techniques may be more effective or if there is indeed no signature whatsoever indicating that human bone has been frozen.

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