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Bomb Peak: Radiocarbon Dating of Skeletal Remains in Routine Forensic Medical Practice

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 September 2018

Petr Handlos ,
Ivo Svetlik ,
Ladislava Horáčková ,
Michal Fejgl ,
Lukas Kotik ,
Veronika Brychová ,
Natália Megisová  and
Klára Marecová
Petr Handlos
Affiliation:
Forensic Medicine, University Hospital Ostrava, 17. Listopadu 1790, Ostrava CZ-708 52, Czech Republic Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, Masaryk University, Kamenice 3, Brno CZ-625 00, Czech Republic
Ivo Svetlik*
Affiliation:
Nuclear Physics Institute CAS, Na Truhlářce 39/64, Prague CZ-180 86, Czech Republic National Radiation Protection Institute, Bartoškova 28, CZ-140 00 Prague, Czech Republic
Ladislava Horáčková
Affiliation:
Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, Masaryk University, Kamenice 3, Brno CZ-625 00, Czech Republic
Michal Fejgl
Affiliation:
National Radiation Protection Institute, Bartoškova 28, CZ-140 00 Prague, Czech Republic
Lukas Kotik
Affiliation:
National Radiation Protection Institute, Bartoškova 28, CZ-140 00 Prague, Czech Republic
Veronika Brychová
Affiliation:
Nuclear Physics Institute CAS, Na Truhlářce 39/64, Prague CZ-180 86, Czech Republic
Natália Megisová
Affiliation:
Nuclear Physics Institute CAS, Na Truhlářce 39/64, Prague CZ-180 86, Czech Republic
Klára Marecová
Affiliation:
Department of Forensic Medicine and Medical Law, University Hospital Olomouc, CZ-779 00 Olomouc, Czech Republic
*
*Corresponding author. Email: svetlik@ujf.cas.cz.
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Abstract

When human remains are found, apart from helping explain the cause of death and determining the extent of any injuries, forensic pathologists are usually requested to determine the identity of the deceased and how much time has elapsed since his death. In the Czech Republic, the criminal liability for murder is set to a statute of limitations of 20 years. In our pilot study, tissue samples of human remains from two decedents were radiocarbon (14C) dated to estimate the date of death. In agreement with published literature, we have confirmed relatively short carbon turnover time in hair, nail, and bone fat. Therefore these samples are the most appropriate for determining date of death. Other samples, such as teeth (collagen and carbonate form) and collagen isolated from bone samples, which exhibit relatively long carbon turnover time, can be used to reduce ambiguity of dating results and to indicate some interfering influences. Given the possibility of processing multiple sample types, we also propose brief guidelines for comparing and interpreting the results of individual analyses.

Keywords

forensic medicineradiocarbon bomb peak datingskeletal remains
Type
Anthropogenic
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 60 , Issue 4: 2nd Radiocarbon in the Environment Conference Debrecen, Hungary, July 3–7, 2017 Part 1 of 2 , August 2018 , pp. 1017 - 1028
Copyright
© 2018 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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Footnotes

†

For instance, using the LEVIN curve and an activity value of 1.980±0.005 F14C, we obtain a single interval in 1963 (Levin and Kromer 2004; Hammer and Levin 2017).

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