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I'm a PhD student researching the role of the archaeological dead in contemporary British society. Think of this as a scrapbook of all the interesting links, snippets of information and random bits and bobs I come across pertaining to death, dying and the dead. Enjoy?!

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    malformalady: A study of vultures at the Texas State University known as ‘the body farm’ is calling into question many of the benchmarks detectives have long relied on. For more than five weeks, a woman’s body lay undisturbed in a secluded Texas field before it skeletonized by a flock of vultures within hours. Experienced investigators would normally have interpreted the absence of flesh and the condition of the bones as evidence that the woman had been dead for six months, possibly even a year or more. Photo credit: David J. Phillip / AP

    malformalady:

    A study of vultures at the Texas State University known as ‘the body farm’ is calling into question many of the benchmarks detectives have long relied on. For more than five weeks, a woman’s body lay undisturbed in a secluded Texas field before it skeletonized by a flock of vultures within hours. Experienced investigators would normally have interpreted the absence of flesh and the condition of the bones as evidence that the woman had been dead for six months, possibly even a year or more.

    Photo credit: David J. Phillip / AP

    (via theossuary)

    Forensic anthropologist and author speaks about the body farm The first organisms to be attracted to a decaying body are blowflies. This Bill Bass knows well: He’s studied them for 40 years. Bass, a forensic anthropologist who founded the University of Tennessee’s Anthropology Research Facility – the body farm – spoke at Virginia Intermont College Saturday afternoon, along with Jon Jefferson, as part of Bristol Public Library’s Worldview Scholarship Series. Together, the duo write under the name Jefferson Bass, and have published two nonfiction books about the body farm, as well as six fictional tomes about a forensic scientist who solves murder cases, based on real life experiences and cases Bass and Jefferson have seen. Bass provides the scientific know-how, and Jefferson brings the words to life.

    Forensic anthropologist and author speaks about the body farm

    The first organisms to be attracted to a decaying body are blowflies.

    This Bill Bass knows well: He’s studied them for 40 years.

    Bass, a forensic anthropologist who founded the University of Tennessee’s Anthropology Research Facility – the body farm – spoke at Virginia Intermont College Saturday afternoon, along with Jon Jefferson, as part of Bristol Public Library’s Worldview Scholarship Series.

    Together, the duo write under the name Jefferson Bass, and have published two nonfiction books about the body farm, as well as six fictional tomes about a forensic scientist who solves murder cases, based on real life experiences and cases Bass and Jefferson have seen. Bass provides the scientific know-how, and Jefferson brings the words to life.

    Is this the face of Jack the Ripper? On this day 123 years ago, Jack the Ripper claimed his first victim. But who was this serial killer? This new e-fit finally puts a face to Carl Feigenbaum, a key suspect from Germany. Jack the Ripper is the world’s most famous cold case - the identity of the man who brutally murdered five women in London’s East End in autumn 1888 remains a mystery. More than 200 suspects have been named. But to Ripper expert Trevor Marriott, a former murder squad detective, German merchant Carl Feigenbaum is the top suspect. Convicted of murdering his landlady in Manhattan, Feigenbaum died in the electric chair in New York’s Sing Sing prison in 1894. His lawyer suspected him of the Ripper murders too. No photos of Feigenbaum exist. So Marriott has produced this new e-fit for BBC One’s National Treasures Live, created from the description on the admittance form when he was in prison on remand in New York. Why does Marriott think Feigenbaum is Jack the Ripper? Evidence, in the form of police documents and hundreds of letters to the authorities and newspapers, give us some clues… Dr Xanthe Mallett, a forensic anthropologist, reviews the ultimate cold case…

    Is this the face of Jack the Ripper?

    On this day 123 years ago, Jack the Ripper claimed his first victim. But who was this serial killer? This new e-fit finally puts a face to Carl Feigenbaum, a key suspect from Germany.

    Jack the Ripper is the world’s most famous cold case - the identity of the man who brutally murdered five women in London’s East End in autumn 1888 remains a mystery.

    More than 200 suspects have been named. But to Ripper expert Trevor Marriott, a former murder squad detective, German merchant Carl Feigenbaum is the top suspect.

    Convicted of murdering his landlady in Manhattan, Feigenbaum died in the electric chair in New York’s Sing Sing prison in 1894. His lawyer suspected him of the Ripper murders too.

    No photos of Feigenbaum exist. So Marriott has produced this new e-fit for BBC One’s National Treasures Live, created from the description on the admittance form when he was in prison on remand in New York.

    Why does Marriott think Feigenbaum is Jack the Ripper? Evidence, in the form of police documents and hundreds of letters to the authorities and newspapers, give us some clues…

    Dr Xanthe Mallett, a forensic anthropologist, reviews the ultimate cold case…

    Kathy Reichs joins "Million for a Morgue" campaign

    forensicanth:

    Kathy Reichs

    Novelist Kathy Reichs has added her name to the growing list of authors keen to raise the profile of the Million for a Morgue campaign, which was launched last month. The high profile addition is likely to boost interest in the project which aims to raise £1 million ($1.63 million) to…

    (via )