Manual for Forensic Archaeology: Search Record Recover
- ISBN-10
- 0992574560
- ISBN-13
- 9780992574567
- Pages
- 150
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2017-03-01
- Author
- Louise Steding
Description
This manual has emerged from a series of lectures, practicals and discussions presented to students in forensic science and criminology at Swinburne University (SOL), the University of Western Sydney (Hawkesbury), and the National Centre for Forensic Studies (Canberra Institute of Technology). It focuses on the role of archaeology as a specialist field in police and forensic investigations. The application of underlying archaeological theory, Laws and practices have been tried and tested and have either withstood or developed from the scrutiny of peers. It is the nature of archaeology to examine the distant past that inspires a focus here on the potential to contribute to resolving older unsolved cases, particularly those of missing persons and homicides. Accordingly, this work incorporates and adapts traditional archaeological methods of site identification, survey, recording, excavation techniques and osteo-archaeology into the broad field of forensics. It is hoped that this focus on search, recording, recovery, skeletal remains, associated artefacts (exhibits), deposits, altered landscapes and data interpretation will be useful to police work. As a guide for reference, it is intended to assist police in locating a deceased individual, maximizing information recovery, minimizing disturbance of the site or damage to skeletal remains or other evidence and to maintain the chain of custody from initial discovery to the courtroom. It is also important that the methods presented are effective for use by both forensic archaeologists and physical anthropologists - for the ability to effectively analyse is largely determined by the appropriateness of the methods used for recovery. Please note that no skeletal remains in this book are from Aboriginal people nor are they recent in nature. Photographs of human bone in this book date from the 17th Century to 5500 years ago, are European in geographic origin and originate from the author's own work.
