Project Description
The objective of the project is to conduct controlled experiments to link the type of burning damage done to mammal bone with the heat and duration of the fire, and to build a taphonomic reference collection of the results, to be curated by the UWM Center for Forensic Science. The collections would be used in undergraduate and graduate teaching and research as part of that program. Experimental samples of limb elements from large (deer-sized to proxy adult human forensic bone) and small mammals (rabbit-sized to proxy juvenile human forensic bone) will be exposed to the heat of a heart or camp fire fueled by wood. Fire temperatures will be monitored and recorded. Bone will be recovered, cleaned, and inventoried for reference collection purposes. The student will prepare a conference-quality poster or powerpoint that documents the experiments and results, which will be archived by the CFS.
Tasks and Responsibilites
The student will spend an average of 10 hours a week to 1) Obtain the experimental animal bone, 2) Design the burning experiments, 3) Conduct and document the experiments, 4) Analyze and then inventory the resulting bone as a reference collection, and 5) Summarize the results of the experiment in the form of a conference-quality poster or powerpoint.