ABSTRACT
The term taphonomy refers to the biological, physical, and chemical processes that contribute to fossil preservation (Allison and Briggs 1991). The definition presumed a multidisciplinary approach to the study of death assemblages with regard to ancient buried remains. Early taphonomy represented a subdiscipline of palaeontology (Efremov 1940), which was purely devoted to studying the processes that occur as a result of the decomposition of organic remains (Micozzi 1991). Modern taphonomy relies even more heavily on a multidisciplinary approach and now encompasses the fields of archaeology, palaeoanthropology, and microbiology (Haglund and Sorg 1997a). With the forensic
9.1 Introduction .............................................................................................. 225 9.2 The Body as a PMI Determinant ............................................................ 227
9.2.1 Forensic Entomology ................................................................... 228 9.2.1.1 Forensic Entomology and Buried Remains .............. 229
9.2.2 Forensic Anthropology ............................................................... 231 9.2.2.1 Morphological, Chemical, and Immunological
Studies ........................................................................... 232 9.2.2.2 Radioisotope Studies ................................................... 234
9.2.3 Forensic Odontology ................................................................... 236 9.2.3.1 Postmortem Tooth Loss as an Indicator of PMI ..... 236
9.3 The Burial Environment as a PBI Determinant ................................... 237 9.3.1 Forensic Botany ............................................................................ 238 9.3.2 Forensic Palynology ..................................................................... 240 9.3.3 Forensic Taphonomy ................................................................... 240
9.4 Conclusion ................................................................................................. 242 References ............................................................................................................ 243
application of taphonomy, the field has broadened further to incorporate additional disciplines including anthropology, mycology, botany, and entomology.
