ABSTRACT

Although hair can survive for millennia, it may also degrade in a matter of weeks-an important consideration now that it is possible to obtain a considerable amount of valuable information from hair (Wilson 2005; Wilson and Gilbert 2007). In forensic science, hair along with other fibers has long been regarded as important trace evidence (Robertson 1999; Seta, Sato, and Miyake 1988), with the current potential to derive important genetic information (Bonnichsen et al. 2001; Gilbert, Tobin, and Wilson in press), as well as dietary, seasonality, and location information (Bonnichsen et al. 1996; Pain 1998; Tam 2000; Toribara and Muhs 1984; Wilson, Dixon, Dodson, et al. 2001) as evidence for toxicology and drug use (Baez et al. 2000; Counsell, Lunt, and Sutherland 2000) and as a trap for particulate evidence such as gunshot residue (MacCrehan, Layman, and Secl 2003).