Body farm

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A body farm is a research facility where human decomposition after death can be scientifically studied in a variety of settings. The aim is to gain a better understanding of the decomposition process, permitting the development of techniques for extracting information (such as the timing and circumstances of death) from human remains. Body farm research is particularly important within forensic anthropology and related disciplines, and has applications in the fields of law enforcement, medical examination and crime scene investigation. There are currently three such facilities in the United States with the farm at Texas State University being the largest.

[edit] Facilities in the United States

[edit] University of Tennessee - Knoxville

The original "Body Farm" (started by William Bass) is the University of Tennessee Anthropological Research Facility located a few miles from downtown off of Alcoa Highway in Knoxville, Tennessee, behind the University of Tennessee Medical Center. Anthropologist Dr. William M. Bass became head of the university's anthropology department in 1971, and as official state forensic anthropologist for Tennessee he was frequently consulted in police cases involving decomposed human remains. Since no facilities existed that specifically studied decomposition, in 1981 he opened the department's first body farm.^[1]

It consists of a 2.5-acre (1.0 ha) wooded plot, surrounded by a razor wire fence. At any one time there will be a number of bodies placed in different settings throughout the facility and left to decompose. The bodies are exposed in a number of ways in order to provide insights into decomposition under varying conditions: for example, some are left out in the open or in the woods, some get buried in shallow graves or entombed in vaults, some have been left in car trunks or submerged in water. Detailed observations and records of the decomposition process are kept, including the sequence and speed of decomposition and the effects of insect activity, and afterwards the skeletonized bones are removed from the plot and added to the Dr. William M. Bass Donated Skeletal Collection, to be used for research and teaching.^[2]

Bodies are obtained from various sources. Some have lain unclaimed at the medical examiner's office, while over 300 people have voluntarily donated their bodies to the Body Farm. Appx. 120 bodies are donated to the facility every year.^[3] Perhaps the most famous person to donate his body for study was the anthropologist Grover Krantz, as described by his colleague David Hunt at the Smithsonian.^[4]

The University of Tennessee Body Farm is also used in the training of law enforcement officers in scene-of-crime skills and techniques.^[5]

[edit] Western Carolina University

Another facility in the United States is located at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, North Carolina and is part of the Western Carolina Human Identification Laboratory. It was opened in 2006 and is run by WCU's Forensic Anthropology program on a small plot on the rural mountain campus. The size of a garage, and able to accommodate six bodies at a time,^[6] the facility studies decomposition in the western North Carolina mountain habitat and may be used for cadaver dog training.^[7]

[edit] Texas State University

A Forensic Anthropology Research Facility was recently commissioned by the Texas State University-San Marcos Department of Anthropology and is under the direction of Dr. Michelle Hamilton, a former student of Dr. Bill Bass. The body farm is fully operational and will be part of the Forensic Anthropology Center at Texas State (F.A.C.T.S.). The forensic facility has received a financial donation of over $100,000 from a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Texas State University, and has started construction of an adjoining million dollar lab to augment the facility. The development of this facility has been possible through the efforts of Dr. Jerry Melbye, D-ABFA.

Prior to the selection of the location, objections by local residents and the nearby San Marcos Municipal Airport (owing to concerns about circling vultures) stalled the plan.^[8] But on February 12, 2008, Texas State University announced that its Freeman Ranch, off County Road 213 northwest of San Marcos, would be the site of the facility.^[9][10]

[edit] Other facilities

Roma Khan doing preliminary work on decomposition of cattle. She finally hopes to open up a Human Anthropological Facility (popularly known as a body farm), where similar decomposition of humans would be studied.

There have been proposals to open body farms in other locations in the U.S. and elsewhere. Few of these have been successful as yet; for example, a facility in Las Vegas was proposed in 2003 but was unable to secure funding.^[11]

Roma Khan of India is taking initial steps toward establishing a body farm in India along the lines of those in the U.S.^[12]

[edit] See also

• Forensic entomology
• Forensic pathology

[edit] References

[edit] Sources

• Bass, Bill & Jefferson, Jon. Death's Acre: Inside the Legendary 'Body Farm' . Time Warner 2003, 300pp. ISBN 0-316-72527-7
• Roach, Mary. Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers. W.W. Norton, 2003. 224pp. ISBN 9780393324822

[edit] External links

• The Forensic Anthropology Center at the University of Tennessee - Knoxville
  • Body donation information and forms
• Death's Acre by Dr. William Bass and Jon Jefferson
• [http://www.bonezones.com/ Bone Zones for Jefferson Bass Books
• The Western Carolina University Forensic Anthropology Program
• Crime Library article on the U.T. body farm
• Salon.com excerpt from Mary Roach's "Stiff", about the U.T. body farm

Coordinates: 35°56′24″N 83°56′20″W / 35.94°N 83.93889°W / 35.94; -83.93889