Forensic Science Thread

[JMCx4]

From: Cambridge University Press > Research Article

Summary justice or the King’s will? The first case of formal facial mutilation from Anglo-Saxon England

1 Institute of Archaeology, University College London, UK
2 Research Laboratory for Archaeology, School of Archaeology, University of Oxford, UK
3 Department of Biological and Geographical Sciences, University of Huddersfield, UK
4 Department of Archaeology, University of York, UK

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 October 2020


Intentional facial disfigurement is documented in archaeological contexts around the world. Here, the authors present the first archaeological evidence for intentional facial mutilation from Anglo-Saxon England—comprising the removal of the nose,upper lip and possible scalping—inflicted upon a young adult female. The injuries are consistent with documented punishments for female offenders.Although such mutilations do not appear in the writ-ten record until the tenth century AD, the instance reported here suggests that the practice may have emerged a century earlier. This case is examined in the context of a wider consideration of the motivations and significance of facial disfigurement in past societies. ...

Read & See more at: https://www.cambridge.org/core/serv...facial_mutilation_from_anglosaxon_england.pdf

Click to read more...

 

[holy]

Well that’s depressing.

 

[Stylizer1]

 

[JMCx4]

From: Forensic Magazine > News

72 Bones Connected to 1881 Death May be Oldest Genetic Genealogy Case to Date
Friday, October 23, 202
(Story originally published by The Porchlight Project, 19 October 2020)

In the fall of 2016, 72 human bones were discovered under weathered newspaper inside a garage at 118 E. Main Street, New London (Ohio). The property was the former residence of New London mayor Dar Anderson but it’s possible the bones were never found by Anderson as the garage was in disrepair.

Forensic anthropologist Dennis Dirkmaat analyzed the remains in his lab at Mercyhurst University in 2016 and determined the bones were likely from a young woman between the ages of 13 and 20, who stood between 4’10” and 5’6” tall. There were no signs of dental work, suggesting the remains were quite old.

Earlier this year, the Porchlight Project contacted New London Chief of Police Mike Marko to offer its services to identify the remains. It was believed at the time that the bones may be evidence of a homicide. Chief Marko allowed the Porchlight Project to have the bones transferred to the labs at Bode Technology, in Lorton, Virginia, where DNA was extracted and analyzed.

The DNA information generated by the lab then went to Bode’s genealogist, Melinde Lutz Byrne, who uploaded the data into multiple DNA databases, including GEDMatch. A potential familial match was found that suggested the bones were much older than we thought. This familial link pointed to a young woman named Hallie Armstrong, who died in 1881, at the age of 18. ...


Read more at: 72 Bones Connected to 1881 Death May be Oldest Genetic Genealogy Case to Date

 

[JMCx4]

From: Forensic Magazine > News

Poachers Beware: New Gel Electrophoresis Method Can Accurately ID Degraded DNA from Aged Ivory
Friday, October 30, 202
Michelle Taylor
Editor-in-Chief

In Thailand, it is illegal to trade ivory from African elephants; however, the law allows possession of ivory from Asian elephants if permission is obtained from authorities. Of course, poachers try to get around this by shipping ivory stolen from African elephants to Asia and then quickly breaking it down to tiny pieces for jewelry or other trinkets. The miniscule amount of DNA contained in elephant husks already makes detection difficult—add in analysis of small pieces and the task becomes monumental.

But that didn’t stop a team of international researchers from developing a new test to give customs agents a leg up. Researchers at Flinders University (Australia) and colleagues in Thailand—all part of a team focused on developing forensic DNA technology to thwart the global black market on exotic animals—have developed an in-field, rapid, inexpensive technique to identify trace amounts of ivory for degraded samples as small as 0.003 ng. ...

In their paper, published in the International Journal of Legal Medicine, the scientists used their gel electrophoresis method to test DNA from aged ivory for reproducibility and specificity. Blind testing of 304 samples resulted in 100% identification accuracy.

But most importantly, the test provided highly sensitive—results showed correct assignment in the legal status of 227 highly degraded, aged ivories within the test cohort. Since species who share a recent common ancestor, like African and Asian elephants, have little variation in their DNA, detecting the difference between the two species at a genetic level is complex. ...


Read more at: Poachers Beware: New Gel Electrophoresis Method Can Accurately ID Degraded DNA from Aged Ivory

 

[JMCx4]

From: AAAS Science Magazine > Science Advances

Female hunters of the early Americas

Randall Haas, James Watson, Tammy Buonasera, et.al.

Science Advances 04 Nov 2020:
Vol. 6, no. 45, eabd0310
DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abd0310

Abstract

Sexual division of labor with females as gatherers and males as hunters is a major empirical regularity of hunter-gatherer ethnography, suggesting an ancestral behavioral pattern. We present an archeological discovery and meta-analysis that challenge the man-the-hunter hypothesis. Excavations at the Andean highland site of Wilamaya Patjxa reveal a 9000-year-old human burial (WMP6) associated with a hunting toolkit of stone projectile points and animal processing tools. Osteological, proteomic, and isotopic analyses indicate that this early hunter was a young adult female who subsisted on terrestrial plants and animals. Analysis of Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene burial practices throughout the Americas situate WMP6 as the earliest and most secure hunter burial in a sample that includes 10 other females in statistical parity with early male hunter burials. The findings are consistent with nongendered labor practices in which early hunter-gatherer females were big-game hunters. ...

Read more at: Female hunters of the early Americas | Science Advances

 

[JMCx4]

From: Reuters > Lifestyle (??)

Pompeii's ruins yield scalded bodies of rich man and slave
Reuters Staff (Reporting by Angelo Amante; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
21 November 2020

ROME (Reuters) - Archaeologists have discovered the exceptionally well-preserved remains of two men scalded to death by the volcanic eruption that destroyed the ancient Roman city of Pompeii in 79 AD, the Italian culture ministry said on Saturday. ...

One was probably a man of high status, aged between 30 and 40, who still bore traces of a woollen cloak under his neck.

The second, probably aged 18 to 23, was dressed in a tunic and had a number of crushed vertebrae, indicating that he had been a slave who did heavy labour. ...

“These two victims were perhaps seeking refuge when they were swept away by the pyroclastic current at about 9 in the morning,” said Massimo Osanna, director of the archeological site. “It is a death by thermal shock, as also demonstrated by their clenched feet and hands.”...


Read & See more at: Pompeii's ruins yield scalded bodies of rich man and slave

 

[JMCx4]

With S/T to @ORRFForever ... 340 Solved / The Zodiac Killer's 340 Cipher Is Solved !!!!

 

[JMCx4]

From: Forensic Magazine > News

Forensic’s Top 10 News Articles of 2020

Wednesday, December 23, 2020
Michelle Taylor | Editor-in-Chief

This year brought unprecedented challenges that sometimes felt more like a movie than real life. Despite the hardships, individuals rose to the occasion to do what they could. For forensic scientists and law enforcement professionals, that meant continuing to do what they are best at—uncovering the truth and preserving justice. Before Forensic takes a holiday break before the—hopefully better—new year, let’s take a look back at the top 10 stories of 2020. ...

Read the Stories at: Forensic’s Top 10 News Articles of 2020

 

[JMCx4]

From: The New York Times/Yahoo! News

His Ship Vanished in the Arctic 176 Years Ago. DNA Has Offered a Clue.
Bryan Pietsch
Mon, May 17, 2021, 1:44 PM

... John Gregory’s descendants would not learn about his fate until more than 175 years after he sent the letter home from Greenland. Some sailors had been identified after being found in marked graves. But recently, Gregory’s DNA and a sample from a descendant born in 1982 were matched, making him the first explorer from the trip whose remains have been positively identified through DNA and genealogical analyses — a process similar to that used in recent years to identify murder suspects and victims in cold cases.

Jonathan Gregory, 38, who lives in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, got an email from researchers in Canada confirming that the cheek swab he had sent to them confirmed that he was a direct descendant of John Gregory. ...

A relative living in British Columbia, whom Gregory had never met, sent him a Facebook message in 2019 after she had seen a request from researchers asking descendants of sailors from the expedition to send in DNA samples.

“I took the plunge,” Gregory said in a phone interview. “For us, this is history.” ...

Read more at: His Ship Vanished in the Arctic 176 Years Ago. DNA Has Offered a Clue.

 

[beowulf]

I actually did my Ba in anthropology because I was thinking of becoming a forensic anthropologist. This is in the 90s before Bones and all that. I had read a couple of books on the subject and found in interesting. What I forgot to do is check for graduate schools and at the time University of Tennessee and North Carolina were the only ones that offered programs and there were none here in Canada.

This stuff is damn interesting.

 

[JMCx4]

... This stuff is damn interesting.