Forensic implications of carnivore scavenging on human remains recovered from outdoor locations in Greece

Abstract 

Mammalian carnivores rank among the most common scavengers of human remains. The present study discusses the forensic implications that carnivore scavenging had on human remains recovered from outdoor locations in Greece, and reviews the current literature on this subject. The forensic anthropological investigation indicated that carnivores were able to disarticulate and scatter body parts and personal effects over the recovery area, destroy skeletal elements and affect their survival, and alter or destroy indicators related with the cause and manner of death. In one case, scattering of bones over a considerable distance compromised the recovery efforts, causing later a problem in re-associating the skeletons. Other taphonomic factors than scavenging such as rolling of skeletal elements may be also responsible for the movement of bones. Carnivore scavenging was also responsible for the production of tooth marks on bone, and for bone removal especially noted on the articular ends of long bones. Matching different bone alterations with such activity is of vital importance since as it was seen carnivore scavenging can confound the interpretation of perimortem skeletal trauma.

Keywords: Forensic anthropology, Animal scavenging, Carnivores, Taphonomy