Death's Acre: Inside The Legendary Forensic Lab The Body Farm by Bill Bass (essential books to read txt) 📕

will be, perhaps, with my students. For some of them, I hope, I will always be looking over their shoulder at the shattered skull, the burned bones, the telltale insects; always questioning them, always challenging them, sometimes even inspiring them. There’s a part of me that will live on, too, at the Body Farm, my proudest scientific creation. Looking back over the past quarter century, I’m amazed at the wealth of pioneering research that has emerged from such humble beginnings—it began in an abandoned sow barn—and even today the Anthropology Research Facility remains a simple metal shed and a patch of trees and honeysuckle vines, tucked behind a high wooden fence (recently enlarged and rebuilt with help from Patricia Cornwell). That, plus a generation of bright, inquisitive minds eager to unlock the secrets of death. I certainly didn’t set out to create something famous there. I just set out to find some answers to questions that were nagging me. As in life, so in science: One thing leads to another, and before you know it, you find yourself someplace you never imagined going.

One question I’m often asked, especially by journalists, is this: “When you die, will your body go to the Body Farm?” Will I practice what I preach; see it through to its logical conclusion? There was a time when I was sure I would. I discussed it with my first wife, Ann, who was also a scientist; she approved heartily. My second wife, Annette—who was my assistant for years and was all too familiar with the facility and its work—said, “Absolutely not.” As for Carol, she seems to be leaning toward a more traditional, and—to her way of thinking, at least—more dignified final resting place for Dr. Bass. I’ll leave the final call to Carol and the boys. The scientist in me wants to sign the donation papers. But the rest of me can’t forget how much I hate flies.

Either way, you’ll still find me at the Body Farm when I die. Not anytime soon, though. I don’t want to die now. I have too much to do. Books to write. Grandchildren to play with. Killers to catch.

APPENDIX I

Bones of the Human Skeleton

General Elements of the Human Skeleton

Skull, Frontal View

Skull, Lateral View

The illustrations in this appendix are reprinted from Human Osteology: A Laboratory and Field Manual (Fourth Ed.), by William M. Bass. © Missouri Archaeological Society, Inc., 1995, and used by kind permission.

APPENDIX II

Glossary of Forensic and Anthropological Terms

accumulated degree day (ADD). The cumulative total of the average daily temperature, measured in either Fahrenheit or Celsius degrees; linking decompositional stages or insect development to ADDs allows temperature changes to be taken into account when computing time since death.

acetabulum. The “socket” in the hip, within which the femoral head moves.

adipocere. Literally, “grave wax,” a greasy or soapy substance formed when fatty tissue decomposes in a moist environment.

antemortem. Before death.

anterior. Toward the front (of the body).

auricular surface. The surface of the hipbone in the area of the sacroiliac joint.

autolysis. Literally, “self-digestion,” the breakdown of the body’s soft tissues as a result of intracellular chemical changes.

autopsy. A postmortem examination by a forensic pathologist.

blowfly. Any of several iridescent green or blue flies in the family Calliphoridae that colonize recently deceased bodies, laying eggs in orifices or wounds; the eggs hatch into maggots that feed on the soft tissues.

Blumensaat’s line. An interior seam in the femur just above the knee, named in honor of the German physician who discovered it, now used by anthropologists to help distinguish Negroid femurs from other femurs.

calcaneus. The heel bone, the largest bone of the foot.

cervical. In the region of the neck.

clavicle. Collarbone.

coccyx. The “tailbone,” consisting of the lowest (distal) several vertebrae, ranging in number from three to five vertebrae.

condyle. A rounded projection or end of a bone, usually where it joins another bone (as, for example, the condyles of the femur and of the tibia form the “hinge” of the knee).

coronal suture. Joint in the cranium running across the top of the head from one side (parietal) to the other.

coroner. An official who investigates and certifies deaths; a coroner may or may not have medical training.

cranium. Skull.

cremains. Human remains that have been cremated.

crenulated. Wavy, notched, or scalloped in form; in anthropology, generally used to describe the upper surfaces of the molars of Negroid individuals.

decomposition. The decay or disintegration of the body.

distal. Far; in bones, farther from the center of the body (opposite of proximal), as in “the distal end of the femur.”

entomologist. A scientist whose specialty is insects.

epiphysis (plural: epiphyses). A part of a bone, usually the end, separated from the central portion or shaft by cartilage; specific epiphyses ossify at consistent, predictable times, making them important markers of skeletal development or age.

external occipital protuberance. The bony bump at the base of the occipital bone of the skull, usually prominent in males but not in females.

femoral head. The “ball” at the proximal end of the femur.

femur (plural: femora). The thighbone.

fibula. The smaller, lateral bone of the lower leg.

floater. A body found decomposing in water.

foramen. An opening or hole (in a bone).

foramen magnum. The large opening at the bottom of the occipital bone through which the brain stem and spinal cord emerge.

frontal. The bone forming the forehead and upper edges of the eye orbits.

greater trochanter. The larger, lateral epiphysis, just below the head of the femur.

humerus (plural: humerii). The bone of the upper arm.

hyoid. Small, U-shaped bone at the front of the neck, often broken in cases of strangulation.

ilium. Broad, upper portion of the hipbone, or innominate.

innominate. Hipbone, formed by the fusion of the ilium, ischium, and pubic bone.

instar. Any of the three developmental stages of the maggot (first instar, second instar, third instar), distinguished from one another by specific anatomical features,