Karl Harrison (Cranfield University, UK and LGC Forensics)

Other than in cases of unusual taphonomic processes, the stuff of traditional burial archaeology is hard tissue; bone and occasionally cartilaginous material from which we reconstruct not only osteological information concerning the deceased, but also attempt to read meaning into the funerary practices of the past.

Over the past twenty years, archaeology within the UK has taken on a new relationship with death and burial through the development of forensic applications of the discipline. Whilst this development has had very clear methodological implications, as the methods of archaeological excavation, recovery and recording have necessarily been adapted to allow for the requirements of complex police investigations, it has also provided an object lesson for the archaeologists involved in the nature of soft tissue decomposition and practical considerations concerning both the concealment and recovery of fleshed remains.

This short paper aims to provide a first-hand view of soft tissue remains as experienced by a forensic archaeologist in a context related to, but theoretically removed from burial archaeology. The express hope of the piece being that consideration of the practical implications of the disposal of decomposing remains will be of some assistance to burial archaeologists working with the form and meaning of funerary rites in both historical and prehistoric contexts.