Presenter(s): Cheyenne Collins
Faculty Mentor(s): Jeanne McLaughlin
Oral Session 4 C
Poster 153
Session: Social Sciences & Humanities
Taphonomy is the study of events and processes that affect remains of an organism after death. It is an essential component of medico-legal death investigations and can aid in reconstructing events leading up to the death as well as time since death. The creation of the Anthropological Research Facility, aka “the body farm” in Tennessee changed how taphonomy was perceived and boosted taphonomic study into the field of forensic science through its focus on human decomposition. Recent research has called for more regional studies in order to test widely accepted methodologies in differing environments. The creation of this facility in the Willamette Valley has involved a multi-year effort gaining various institutional approvals, securing grant funding, and planning a pilot project that is the first of its kind in the region. This facility is one of less than ten facilities in the United States and the only one west of the Rocky Mountains. The conclusion of the facilities’ first project has secured a plethora of data on decomposition from this region, as well as yielded new data on animal scavenging, insect activity, and microorganisms. Multiple undergraduate research projects including both LCC and UO students have also stemmed from the pilot study. The incoming data has already demonstrated that additional regional studies are needed in the Willamette Valley, which is a taphonomically unique environment. This presentation will discuss the opening of this unique local outdoor research site, share a variety of the initial outcomes of the pilot project(s), and discuss future plans.