Ta1_05

Radiocarbon analysis of human remains in forensic cases

Cherkinsky A¹, Bengtson J², Prasad G¹

¹University Of Georgia, Athens, United States, ²Southeast Missouri State University, Cape Girardeau, United States

Estimation of the date of birth and death of deceased individuals, whose remains make identification impossible, represents an important task for forensic science. The dramatic spike of ¹⁴C concentration in atmosphere in 1955 - 1963 due to above ground nuclear testing and its subsequent decline is documented by high resolution records which could help to solve this problem. We analyzed the proportion of bomb radiocarbon in the bioapatite of enamel and collagen of dentine to solve these problems. We analyzed seven cases of remains of unidentified victims recovered by law enforcement and submitted to Southeast Missouri State University for anthropological analyses. Some of them were recovered decades ago, while some were recovered more recently. All remains were analyzed on collagen fraction of the dentine and bioapatite fraction of the enamel. In two of sevens cases collagen was formed before 1950 AD collagen and these cases were excluded from determination. In the third case, enamel was formed before 1950 AD but death occurred after the bomb spike in 1962-1964 AD according of ¹⁴C concentration in collagen and the age of the victim. The other four cases were fitted in the bomb curve and allowed quite precise determination of dates of birth and death.

The δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N values for dentine collagen were higher than it would be expected for pure terrestrial diet, implying some consumption of marine food that could lead to reduced ¹⁴C concentration. Taking into account the potential marine reservoir effect could slightly reduce the ages of those persons.