Death’s Acre is narrated by Dr. Bill Bass, as he tells how he worked his way up to eventually become the Tennessee State forensic anthropologist. He would even assist the TBI and FBI on some cases with his expertise. In his book he describes several cases he worked on, as well as the start of his research facility that would come to be known as the body farm. Dr. Bass describes how his forensic career began, and how he looked up to Krogman, the most famous “bone detective” of the 1940s and 1950s. His first time exposed to an actual case, however, was with his anthropology professor at the University of Kentucky. His professor took him to help identify and confirm the identity of a person in a truck accident. Dr. Bass later went to the University of Pennsylvania, turning down Harvard, because he wanted to work with Krogman. He then went on to teach at universities and work on extraordinary cases. While working on these cases, it became apparent that more information needed to be obtained about the time of death of the victims, and decomposition of bodies, in order to prove the cases more easily. It was when he estimated the time of death of a body and was off by nearly 113 years that he realized he needed to do research himself. The body farm, located on the campus of the University of Tennessee, is where he examined hundreds of bodies in different situations to study the body’s decomposition when influenced by different factors. Many of the techniques used in the cases to identify the bodies are incredible.
The four things that one must identify, as Dr. Bass explains, are sex, race, age, and stature. This can help narrow down the possibilities when identifying a body. There are many techniques used to identify these, for example the pubic bone, as well as the teeth, can help determine age. How fused the joints are in the cranium is also an indicator of age. By using a body’s teeth, dental records can be matched to them, and the body can be identified more quickly. Another interesting fact is that in a fire, arms and legs flex because water evaporates and muscles and tendons shrink. If a burned body is not found in this position, it is an indication that the person was tied up when they were killed. Insects can also give clues to what happened to a victim. If a person has been stabbed, the flies lay their eggs there because they are attracted to the blood. If there are injuries, such as stab wounds, to a body, the body will be more decayed in areas other than the face, which has moist crevices the insects are also attracted to. A very interesting way to obtain fingerprints was also described, by fuming the body with superglue, and then dusting with ultraviolet powder.
1 comment:
I thought that this summary was well done. I had a lot of trouble writing an synopsis on Death's Acre because I couldn't decide what to include and what not to include. Everything seemed so important. This essay only includes the important details of the story, which is a good thing. I also liked that this essay was written in a simple way. Although Bass is a great writer and a wonderful scientist, sometimes the concepts he descibed were a little hard to understand. This essay explains Bass' concepts in simple terms. Finally, I was impressed that this essay talked using superglue and ultraviolet powder to recover fingerprints. Although this method of identification was not discussed a lot in the Bass' book, the process was used in Patricia Cornwell's The Body Farm.
Although this essay was very good. A lot of Bass' funny anecdotes are not included. Also, maybe it would have been nice if the author of the essay talked about her reaction to the novel.
In the end, I really liked reading this essay and found it very helpful because it narrowed down Bass' long book.
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