University of Coimbra, Department of Life Sciences, Calçada Martim de Freitas, 3000-456 Coimbra, Portugal; University of Coimbra, Department of Life Sciences, Centre for Functional Ecology (CFE), Laboratory of Forensic Anthropology, Calçada Martim de Freitas, 3000-456 Coimbra, Portugal; University of Coimbra, Department of Chemistry, Molecular Physical-Chemistry R&D Unit, 3004-535 Coimbra, Portugal; University of Coimbra, Department of Life Sciences, Research Centre for Anthropology and Health (CIAS), Calçada Martim de Freitas, 3000-456 Coimbra, Portugal.
University of Coimbra, Department of Chemistry, Molecular Physical-Chemistry R&D Unit, 3004-535 Coimbra, Portugal.
Sci Justice. 2022 Sep;62(5):484-493. doi: 10.1016/j.scijus.2022.07.007. Epub 2022 Jul 25.
Forensic anthropologists may not always be able to differentiate heat-induced fractures from fractures with other aetiologies, namely sharp force traumas, with clear nefarious impact on medico-legal conclusions. The objective of this study was to experimentally investigate if blade chemical traces are transferred to defleshed bone tissue and if they remain there after a burning event. This was accomplished by prompting sharp force traumas in 20 macerated fresh pig ribs with five different instruments, namely a stainless steel knife, an artisanal knife and a ceramic kitchen knife, a small axe and a large axe. Another pig rib was used as control, not being subjected to any trauma. All instruments were probed by X-ray fluorescence (XRF) to establish the composition of each blade. Bone samples, both pre-burned and post-burned (at 500 °C, 700 °C, 900 °C and 1100 °C), were then probed by XRF. All sharp force instruments left detectable chemical traces on pre-burned bone, although not in all samples. Furthermore, traces were still detected after experimental burning in most cases. Potentially, XRF can provide relevant information about the aetiology of fractures in burned and unburned bones, although the effect of soft tissues and diagenesis must still be investigated.
法医人类学家有时可能无法将热诱导骨折与其他病因（即锐器创伤）引起的骨折区分开来，这对法医学结论有明显的不良影响。本研究的目的是实验性地研究刀片化学痕迹是否会转移到去肉的骨组织上，以及在燃烧事件后它们是否仍然存在。这是通过用五种不同的工具（不锈钢刀、手工刀和陶瓷厨刀、小斧和大斧）在 20 个浸泡过的新鲜猪肋骨上引起锐器创伤来实现的。另一个猪肋骨用作对照，不承受任何创伤。所有工具都通过 X 射线荧光（XRF）探测以确定每个刀片的组成。然后用 XRF 探测燃烧前和燃烧后的骨样本（在 500°C、700°C、900°C 和 1100°C 下）。所有锐器工具都在燃烧前的骨头上留下了可检测的化学痕迹，尽管不是在所有样本中都有。此外，在大多数情况下，在实验燃烧后仍能检测到痕迹。XRF 可以提供有关燃烧和未燃烧骨骼骨折病因的相关信息，但仍需研究软组织和成岩作用的影响。
