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A University of Maine associate anthropology professor is studying the decay of pig carcasses in various weather and soil conditions. The project is funded by a grant from the Department of Justice, which is interested in getting better data on the changes regional conditions cause in human body decay.
Marcella Sorg — who also serves as the forensic anthropology consultant for the chief medical examiner’s office in Maine, New Hampshire and Delaware — is conducting the research, part of which will be supported by the recently expanded forensic anthropology laboratory at UMaine.
While it is not the first laboratory on campus to deal with aspects of forensics, Kristin Sobolik, chairperson of the anthropology department, said that it is the first laboratory dedicated to forensic research and education.
“The Department of Anthropology is really excited to be able to house it,” Sobolik said.
The lab is intended to serve a variety of teaching and research purposes, including the study of human bones, organism decay and other aspects of0 forensic anthropology. According to Sorg, forensic anthropology is the application of physical anthropology to questions related to the legal system. Many techniques for the recovery of human remains used by forensic anthropologists also have strong ties to archaeology.
The laboratory will serve as a single location to house a skeletal reference collection, as well as any bones sent in for analysis. Most of the skeletal samples are human, donated by the medical examiner’s office, though the lab will also house some nonhuman bones to be used for comparison in determining whether bone fragments submitted for examination are human. The comparative faunal laboratory, also in South Stevens Hall, fills much of the need for animal samples.
In addition to skeletal samples, there will be a number of plaster casts of bones and a digital photograph library. Sorg has obtained a number of photographs which are being digitalized and incorporated into this collection.
Most of the lab’s supplies consist of various measuring devices. Sorg estimates that more than 100 measurements are required to catalogue a skeleton. She said that while the devices are fairly expensive — some instruments cost as much as a $1,000 — they are relatively simple. She also said relatively little equipment is needed to do her work.
“You don’t need holographs and shiny surfaces,” she said.
Six undergraduate students work with various aspects of Sorg’s research, including setting up the lab. Kaileigh Deacon, a lab employee and Senior in the anthropology department, has been working in with Sorg in the lab.
“We have been working at cleaning bones as well as identifying animal remains that came in with some of the cases.”
Sorg said that the student employees are also involved in cataloguing and labeling comparative samples, developing a “policy and procedures manual,” for the laboratory, and revising commonly used forms, such as the forms for recording skeletal measurements. Students are also involved in scanning photographic slides into the digital collection.
Though the lab is currently in use, its expansion will lead to new opportunities for research professors and students alike.
“A lab is never really done,” said Sobolik. She said the lab is ready for research work, and that she hoped the department would get money from a stimulus grant through the university to set up student work stations. These might be used for a laboratory science courses as early as next year.
Bangor Daily News