Preliminary soilwater conductivity analysis to date clandestine burials of homicide victims

This study reports on a new geoscientific method to estimate the post-burial interval (PBI) and potential post-mortem interval (PMI) date of homicide victims in clandestine graves by measuring decomposition fluid conductivities. Establishing PBI/PMI dates may be critical for forensic investigators to establish time-lines to link or indeed rule out suspects to a crime. Regular in situ soilwater analysis from a simulated clandestine grave (which contained a domestic buried pig carcass) in a semi-rural environment had significantly elevated conductivity measurements when compared to background values. A temporal rapid increase of the conductivity of burial fluids was observed until one-year post-burial, after this values slowly increased until two years (end of the current study period). Conversion of x-axis from post-burial days to 'accumulated degree days' (ADDs) corrected for both local temperature variations and associated depth of burial and resulted in an improved fit for multiple linear regression analyses. ADD correction also allowed comparison with a previous conductivity grave study on a different site with a different soil type and environment; this showed comparable results with a similar trend observed. A separate simulated discovered burial had a conductivity estimated PBI date that showed 12% error from its actual burial date. Research is also applicable in examining illegal animal burials; time of burial and waste deposition. Further research is required to extend the monitoring period, to use human cadavers and to repeat this with other soil types and depositional environments

Mechanisms of Surviving Burial: Dune Grass Interspecific Differences Drive Resource Allocation After Sand Deposition

Sand dunes are important geomorphic formations of coastal ecosystems that are critical in protecting human populations that live in coastal areas. Dune formation is driven by ecomorphodynamic interactions between vegetation and sediment deposition. While there has been extensive research on responses of dune grasses to sand burial, there is a knowledge gap in understanding mechanisms of acclimation between similar, coexistent, dune-building grasses such as Ammophila breviligulata (C3), Spartina patens (C4), and Uniola paniculata (C4). Our goal was to determine how physiological mechanisms of acclimation to sand burial vary between species. We hypothesize that (1) in the presence of burial, resource allocation will be predicated on photosynthetic pathway and that we will be able to characterize the C3 species as a root allocator and the C4 species as leaf allocators. We also hypothesize that (2) despite similarities between these species in habitat, growth form, and life history, leaf, root, and whole plant traits will vary between species when burial is not present. Furthermore, when burial is present, the existing variability in physiological strategy will drive species-specific mechanisms of survival. In a greenhouse experiment, we exposed three dune grass species to different burial treatments: 0 cm (control) and a one-time 25-cm burial to mimic sediment deposition during a storm. At the conclusion of our study, we collected a suite of physiological and morphological functional traits. Results showed that Ammophila decreased allocation to aboveground biomass to maintain root biomass, preserving photosynthesis by allocating nitrogen (N) into light-exposed leaves. Conversely, Uniola and Spartina decreased allocation to belowground production to increase elongation and maintain aboveground biomass. Interestingly, we found that species were functionally distinct when burial was absent; however, all species became more similar when treated with burial. In the presence of burial, species utilized functional traits of rapid growth strategy, although mechanisms of change were interspecifically variable

Seed Longevity of Melaleuca quinquenervia: A Burial Experiment in South Florida

Burial and removal techniques with seed bags were used to examine the viability and longevity of Melaleuca quinquenervia seeds at four field sites representing different soil types and hydrological conditions in South Florida. Seed viability was determined over different burial durations in the soil through a combination of germination tests and 2,3,5-triphenyl- tetrazolium chloride (TTC) treatments. Control seeds kept dry at 25 C in the laboratory maintained same viability of ca. 15% over the 3-year study. In the field, seed viability decreased with increased burial duration.(PDF has 4 pages.

Osteocytes as a record of bone formation dynamics: A mathematical model of osteocyte generation in bone matrix

The formation of new bone involves both the deposition of bone matrix, and the formation of a network of cells embedded within the bone matrix, called osteocytes. Osteocytes derive from bone-synthesising cells (osteoblasts) that become buried in bone matrix during bone deposition. The generation of osteocytes is a complex process that remains incompletely understood. Whilst osteoblast burial determines the density of osteocytes, the expanding network of osteocytes regulates in turn osteoblast activity and osteoblast burial. In this paper, a spatiotemporal continuous model is proposed to investigate the osteoblast-to-osteocyte transition. The aims of the model are (i) to link dynamic properties of osteocyte generation with properties of the osteocyte network imprinted in bone, and (ii) to investigate Marotti's hypothesis that osteocytes prompt the burial of osteoblasts when they become covered with sufficient bone matrix. Osteocyte density is assumed in the model to be generated at the moving bone surface by a combination of osteoblast density, matrix secretory rate, rate of entrapment, and curvature of the bone substrate, but is found to be determined solely by the ratio of the instantaneous burial rate and matrix secretory rate. Osteocyte density does not explicitly depend on osteoblast density nor curvature. Osteocyte apoptosis is also included to distinguish between the density of osteocyte lacuna and the density of live osteocytes. Experimental measurements of osteocyte lacuna densities are used to estimate the rate of burial of osteoblasts in bone matrix. These results suggest that: (i) burial rate decreases during osteonal infilling, and (ii) the control of osteoblast burial by osteocytes is likely to emanate as a collective signal from a large group of osteocytes, rather than from the osteocytes closest to the bone deposition front.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures. V2: substantially augmented version. Addition of Section 4 (osteocyte apoptosis

Ceramic Vessels from Caddo Sites in Wood County, Texas

This article concerns the documentation of 54 ceramic vessels in the collections of the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at The University of Texas at Austin (TARL) from seven ancestral Caddo sites in Wood County in East Texas (Figure 1). This includes vessels from A. C. Gibson (41WD1, n=2 vessels), J. H. Reese (41WD2, n=26), H. D. Spigner (41WD4, n=17), Mattie Dial (41WD5, n=2), B. F. Cathey (41WD14, n=2), J. H. Baker (41WD33, n=4), and 41WD117 (n=1 vessel). The A. C. Gibson site is situated in the floodplain of the Sabine River near the confluence with Cottonwood Creek. In 1932, looters had dig in a midden deposit (with many mussel shells) and exposed one ancestral Caddo burial with two vessels. In 1934, University of Texas archaeologists excavated two more burials (S-1 and S-2) in the midden. Burial S-1 was that of a child, in a flexed position; this burial had no associated funerary offerings. Burial S-2 held two individuals in an extended supine position in an east-west oriented grave. This burial had two ceramic vessels and a rounded elbow pipe as funerary offerings. The TARL files also indicate that at least three ancestral Caddo burials were excavated by amateur archaeologists prior to the 1970s, and at least one burial had associated ceramic vessels. The nearby Son Gibson Farm site (41WD518) is reported to have had sherds from Sanders Slipped, Sanders Engraved, Canton Incised, and Maxey Noded Redware vessels, and it may be contemporaneous with the burials at the A. C. Gibson site

Human Skeletal Remains from the Tyson Site (41SY92)

During the 1993 field season at the Tyson site (41SY92), conducted by the East Texas and Northeast Texas Archaeological societies, two burial features were uncovered. These features contained the skeletal remains of three Caddo subadults, ranging in age from birth to one to two years. Burial 1 yielded the partial skeleton of a child less than two years old, as well as elements of a second, slightly younger, child. Burial 2 produced the remains of a well-preserved infant. This article describes the excavation and osteology protocols, a description of taphonomic conditions, inventory of these burials, demography, size of the subadults, their state of health, and cranial modification

Documentation of Ceramic Vessels and Projectile Points from the C. D. Marsh Site (41HS269) in the Sabine River Basin

A total of at least eight Caddo burials were excavated at the C. D. Marsh site on Eight Mile Creek, a southward-flowing tributary to the Sabine River, by Buddy C. Jones in 1959-1960. This includes Burial 1, an historic (dating after ca. A.D. 1685) Nadaco Caddo burial; European trade goods found with this burial include two small silver disks. The other burials (Burials 2-8) are part of an earlier Caddo cemetery that is thought to be associated with the ca. A.D. 1350-17th century Pine Tree Mound community along the Sabine River and its tributaries. Jones suggests that these latter burials are from a ca. A.D. 1200-1500 Caddo cemetery. According to Jones and notes on file at the museum, Burials 2-8 are located ca. 120 m east-southeast from the one Historic Caddo burial at the site. The burials were placed in extended supine position in north-south oriented pits in rows, with the head of the deceased at the southern end of the burial and facing north. Funerary offerings included ceramic vessels and mussel shells. In this article, we describe eight ceramic vessels in the Gregg County Historical Museum collections from Burials 1, 4, and 7, as well as projectile points from habitation contexts at the C. D. Marsh site; the location of Burial 7 relative to Burial 4 is not known. There are also six other ceramic vessels from the ca. A.D. 1200-1500 burials at the site that are unassociated funerary objects in the Gregg County Historical Museum collections. This includes one vessel each from Burials 5 and 8; the provenience of the other vessels at the site is unknown. One of the unassociated funerary object ceramic vessels at the C. D. Marsh site is a Ripley Engraved, var. McKinney carinated bowl. Such vessels would not be expected in a ca. A.D. 1200-1500 Caddo cemetery, and although this type of fine ware is commonly seen on post-A.D. 1600 Titus phase sites in the region, it is rarely found in association with European trade goods. Therefore, it may represent a burial from a third temporal component (ca. A.D. 1600-1685) at the site

Sulfate Burial Constraints on the Phanerozoic Sulfur Cycle

The sulfur cycle influences the respiration of sedimentary organic matter, the oxidation state of the atmosphere and oceans, and the composition of seawater. However, the factors governing the major sulfur fluxes between seawater and sedimentary reservoirs remain incompletely understood. Using macrostratigraphic data, we quantified sulfate evaporite burial fluxes through Phanerozoic time. Approximately half of the modern riverine sulfate flux comes from weathering of recently deposited evaporites. Rates of sulfate burial are unsteady and linked to changes in the area of marine environments suitable for evaporite formation and preservation. By contrast, rates of pyrite burial and weathering are higher, less variable, and largely balanced, highlighting a greater role of the sulfur cycle in regulating atmospheric oxygen

Ancestral Caddo Ceramic Vessels from the J. B. Sparkman Site (41HP26), Hopkins County, Texas

Two ancestral Caddo vessels were excavated by a J. B. Sparkman from a burial that had been exposed by erosion. The burial was found on the site in the Caney Creek valley in the upper Sabine River basin near the community of Black Oak in southeastern Hopkins County, Texas. The University of Texas purchased the two vessels from Mr. Sparkman in May 1931