Department of Forensic Medicine, Monash University, Australia.
Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory, The Australian National University, Australia.
J Forensic Leg Med. 2022 Jan;85:102275. doi: 10.1016/j.jflm.2021.102275. Epub 2021 Nov 12.
When human remains are discovered, confirming the identification of the decedent is the first part of the forensic medical investigation. In cases where the remains are skeletonised or badly decomposed, differential preservation often increases the difficulty of this task. Bomb pulse dating, which directly compares levels of 14 C within human tissues to atmospheric levels, can provide an estimate of the year of death, which may assist in the identification process. This study measured the 14 C content in samples of hair, nail and puparia collected from donors at the Australian Facility for Taphonomic Experimental Research (AFTER). The radiocarbon results demonstrated that the nail samples provided the most accurate year of death estimation, with 91% correctly predicting YOD, closely followed by hair, with a 79% correct prediction rate, with both hair and nails having a lag time of 0-1 years. This is consistent with the time taken for atmospheric CO 2 to enter the food chain, and be taken in by humans. Puparia was found to have the highest levels of 14 C, and was the least consistent with the actual YOD (46% correct). However, predicted YOD ranges were still within 4 years of the actual YOD. Based on the results of this study, hair, nail and puparia should be considered as useful samples to obtain accurate estimates for YOD using bomb pulse dating.
当人类遗骸被发现时，确认死者的身份是法医调查的第一步。在遗骸骨骼化或严重腐烂的情况下，差异保存常常增加了这项任务的难度。炸弹脉冲测年法可直接比较人体组织内的 14C 水平与大气水平，提供死亡年份的估计，这可能有助于识别过程。本研究测量了从澳大利亚埋藏学实验研究设施（AFTER）的供体采集的毛发、指甲和蛹样本中的 14C 含量。放射性碳结果表明，指甲样本提供了最准确的死亡年份估计，91%的样本能够正确预测 YOD，紧随其后的是毛发，正确预测率为 79%，两者的滞后时间均为 0-1 年。这与大气 CO2 进入食物链并被人类吸收所需的时间一致。蛹的 14C 含量最高，与实际 YOD 的一致性最差（正确预测率为 46%）。然而，预测的 YOD 范围仍在实际 YOD 的 4 年内。基于这项研究的结果，毛发、指甲和蛹应被视为有用的样本，可通过炸弹脉冲测年法获得准确的 YOD 估计。
