Masters Theses

Date of Award

8-1989

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Major

Anthropology

Major Professor

William M. Bass

Committee Members

Walter E. Klippel, P. S. Willey

Abstract

It has only been in the last two decades that the special circumstances of saw marks in bone have been addressed. The importance of these marks in forensic examinations has received little attention in the English literature, but this trend is changing.

The examination of saw marks in bone is an area of research which may prove useful in a variety of scientific investigations. This thesis examines the variation present in the saw marks made by a group of hand saws and provides a methodology for the examination and analysis of these tool marks.

The results of this investigation prove that it is indeed possible to differentiate the marks made by different saws and to classify the marks to a certain class of saws. Under rare circumstances it may be possible to positively identify a saw by the marks it leaves, but the matching of trace evidence from the scene of the sawing and evidence found on the saw seems to be a more reliable means of making a positive identification.

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Anthropology Commons

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