Determination of the post mortem interval in skeletal remains by the comparative use of different physico-chemical methods: are they reliable as an alternative to 14C?

Publication date: Available online 22 March 2017 Source:HOMO - Journal of Comparative Human Biology Author(s): Alberto Amadasi, Annalisa Cappella, Cristina Cattaneo, Pacifico Cofrancesco, Lucia Cucca, Daniele Merli, Chiara Milanese, Andrea Pinto, Antonella Profumo, Valentina Scarpulla, Emanuela Sguazza The determination of the post-mortem interval (PMI) of skeletal remains is a challenging aspect in the forensic field. Previous studies focused their attention on different macroscopic and morphological aspects but a thorough and complete evaluation of the potential of chemical and physical analyses in this field of research has not been performed. In addition to luminol test and Oxford histology index (OHI) reported in a recent paper, widely spread and accessible methods based on physical aspect and chemical characteristics of skeletal remains have been investigated as potential alternatives to dating by determination of 14C. The investigation was performed on a total of 24 archeological and forensic bone samples with known PMI, with inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometer (ICP-OES), inductively coupled plasma quadruple mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), powder X-ray diffraction analysis (XRPD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Finally, the feasibility of such alternative methods was discussed. Some results such as carbonates/phosphates ratio from FT-IR, the am...
Source: HOMO Journal of Comparative Human Biology - Category: Biology Source Type: research