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Open Access 01-07-2017 | Original Article

Luminescence of thermally altered human skeletal remains

Authors: Tristan Krap, Kevin Nota, Leah S. Wilk, Franklin R.W. van de Goot, Jan M. Ruijter, Wilma Duijst, Roelof-Jan Oostra

Published in: International Journal of Legal Medicine | Issue 4/2017

Abstract

Literature on luminescent properties of thermally altered human remains is scarce and contradictory. Therefore, the luminescence of heated bone was systemically reinvestigated. A heating experiment was conducted on fresh human bone, in two different media, and cremated human remains were recovered from a modern crematory. Luminescence was excited with light sources within the range of 350 to 560 nm. The excitation light was filtered out by using different long pass filters, and the luminescence was analysed by means of a scoring method. The results show that temperature, duration and surrounding medium determine the observed emission intensity and bandwidth. It is concluded that the luminescent characteristic of bone can be useful for identifying thermally altered human remains in a difficult context as well as yield information on the perimortem and postmortem events.

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Title: Luminescence of thermally altered human skeletal remains
Authors: Tristan Krap
Kevin Nota
Leah S. Wilk
Franklin R.W. van de Goot
Jan M. Ruijter
Wilma Duijst
Roelof-Jan Oostra
Publication date: 01-07-2017
Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in: International Journal of Legal Medicine / Issue 4/2017
Print ISSN: 0937-9827
Electronic ISSN: 1437-1596
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-017-1546-1

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