Browsing by Author "Mata Tutor, Pilar"

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    Cut or Burnt? – Categorizing morphological characteristics of heat-induced fractures and sharp force trauma
    (Elsevier, 2021-02-28) Mata Tutor, Pilar; Benito-Sánchez, María; Villoria Rojas, Catherine; Muñoz García, Alexandra; Pérez Guzmán, Inés; Márquez-Grant, Nicholas
    Distinguishing trauma from heat-induced fractures is a challenge faced by forensic anthropologists and pathologists during medicolegal investigations in which fire has been used by the perpetrators to destroy evidence. This paper aims to validate the provided identification features to distinguish between fire induced alterations and sharp force trauma. A total of 80 cremated adult individuals were used in this paper: 3 recently deceased embalmed cadavers from Cementerio Sur de Madrid for the sharp force trauma experiment in which 55 pre-burning injuries were inflicted using a machete and a serrated knife in different anatomical regions. And 77 cremated individuals from the Forensic Anthropology and Odontology Laboratory osteological collection. Five cremated long bones from this collection were selected, and 10 cuts were manually inflicted using a serrated knife to analyse post-burning trauma. Heat-induced changes and trauma morphologic characteristics were thus documented and analysed. The examination and documentation of morphological traits enabled the production of a heat-induced changes visual guide and a flow-chart. Two intraclass correlation tests were performed to validate the capacity of the observer to distinguish between fire related alterations and toolmarks. The results obtained in the statistical analysis indicate that, even if the toolmarks are visible and recognizable upon macroscopic observation by the observers, some features, such as the step and the transverse fractures can be mistaken with inflicted trauma. The use of the proposed features coupled with careful anthropological examination is recommended and has been found functional for participants with no prior knowledge in the analysis of cremated remains.
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    Measuring dimensional and morphological heat alterations of dismemberment-related toolmarks with an Optical Roughness-meter
    (Springer, 2021-07-05) Mata Tutor, Pilar; Villoria-Rojas, Catherine; Márquez-Grant, Nicholas; Alvarez de Buergo Ballester, Mónica; Pérez-Ema, Natalia; Benito-Sánchez, María
    This experimental study provides a further understanding of the post-burning nature of sharp force trauma. The main objective is to analyse the distortion that fire may inflict on the length, width, roughness, and floor shape morphology of toolmarks induced by four different implements. To this end, four fresh juvenile pig long bones were cut with a bread knife, a serrated knife, a butcher machete, and a saw. A total of 120 toolmarks were induced and the bone samples were thus burnt in a chamber furnace. The lesions were analysed with a 3D optical surface roughness metre before and after the burning process. Afterwards, descriptive statistics and correlation tests (Student’s t-test and analysis of variance) were performed. The results show that fire exposure can distort the signatures of sharp force trauma, but they remain recognisable and identifiable. The length decreased in size and the roughness increased in a consistent manner. The width did not vary for the saw, serrated knife, or machete toolmarks, while the bread knife lesions slightly shrunk. The floor shape morphology varied after burning, and this change became more noticeable for the three knives. It was also observed that the metrics of the serrated knife and machete cut marks showed no significant variations. Our results demonstrate that there is a variation in the toolmark characteristics after burning. This distortion is dependent on multiple factors that influence their dimensional and morphological changes, and the preservation of class features is directly reliant upon the weapon employed, the trauma caused, and the burning process conditions.