The speed of post mortem change to the human skeleton and its taphonomic significance

The aim of this study was to assess the potential speed of post mortem alteration to skeletal microstructure by examining human material drawn from differing environmental contexts and time periods. The material was taken from terrestrial, intertidal and lacustrine contexts and extended over a range of 3 months to 83 years post mortem, The examination was conducted using backscattered electron imaging which provided information on microstructure and relative density. The results from this study have significantly brought forward the time of known onset for post mortem alteration for 3 morphological types of microstructural change, the earliest of which was 3 months post mortem. The contribution of the depositing environment was also shown to influence significantly the microstructural/morphological type of post mortem alteration. It is hypothesized that microstructural changes to bone could occur within days of death as a result of endogenous bacterial migration to the skeleton. Further studies are required to establish definitively the earliest moment that such change can occur prior to skeletonisation.