A technical protocol for 3D observation and documentation of human decomposition

ABSTRACT

The changes that occur to the human body after death reflect a multitude of complex biological processes, which can be impacted by a collection of variables that are not yet fully understood. Typically, information is obtained through in-situ examination and/or 2D data collection, which may restrict the availability of data and prevent collection of valuable information. To address this gap, the aim of this paper is to present a protocol for 3D data collection of human decomposition in outdoor environments. The specific objectives include presenting an approach and framework using wildlife cameras and performing 3D observation of a decomposing body. The method includes the design and construction of a walk-in cage including five frames holding 31 cameras, installed at the Australian Facility for Taphonomic Experimental Research. Preliminary trials completed on one subject in Zurich and various objects provided promising results through the generation of a 3D model. Comparing the wildlife cameras 3D model with a high-quality 3D model showed only minor discrepancies. This approach will be used in a study designed to improve our understanding of the human decomposition process to ultimately assist investigators with PMI estimations and to help reconstruct the sequence of events and time of death.

KEYWORDS:

• Forensic Taphonomy
• 3D Documentation
• Forensic Anthropology
• Human Decomposition

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Ahmet Seckiner for his expertise for the design of both cage and camera frames, and HIQ Engineering for its construction at the AFTER site.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethics

This research project was completed under the ethical approval from three institutions: University of Zurich (KEK ZH-No: 15-0686), University of Technology Sydney AFTER Program Ethics Approval (ETS18-2999), University of Newcastle (H-2021-0106).

Notes

1. The role of the forensic pathologist is the determination of cause and manner of death²³. The forensic taphonomist determines factors that influence the human decomposition process to provide a clearer time since death estimation²⁴. Forensic anthropologists examine traits of human skeletal remains for identification purposes (Ubelaker et al., 2018). It must be noted that, globally, these aforementioned sub-disciplinary roles can overlap dependent on the organization and country.

2. The artefacts in this paper refer to results observed that is not naturally present within the individual, but rather a human error that caused the inconsistency during the data collection stage.