ASM 275 MAIN EXAM SCRIPT 2025/2026 QUESTIONS
WITH SOLUTIONS RATED A+
✔✔Establishing the Forensic Context - ✔✔1) Is it bone at all?
2) Is it human bone or non-human bone?
3) If it is human, is it of medico-legal significance?
✔✔Histological Differences - in Humans - ✔✔Circular osteons
Random osteons
Various sized osteons
✔✔Histological Differences - in Animals - ✔✔Osteons + other
Can be banded
Plexiform, brick-like layers
✔✔Livor Mortis - ✔✔Discoloration of body due to settling of blood and other bodily fluids
Apparent at 1-2 hours
Well-developed at 3-4 hours
Fixed at 8-12 hours
✔✔Alvor Mortis - ✔✔Body temperature drops following death
Rectal temp drops 2 degrees Celsius for the first hour, drops 1 degree Celsius
thereafter, until reaches ambient room temperature
✔✔Rigor Mortis - ✔✔Occurs due to chemical binding of muscle fibers - muscles lock in
place, results in stiffness
Apparent within 1-2 hours
Complete stiffness in 12 hours
Released in 24-48 hours
✔✔Autolysis - ✔✔Results from cell death and action of enzymes that work against the
cell and destroy it
✔✔Putrefaction - ✔✔Consumption of body by endogenous bacteria
✔✔How To Estimate Postmortem Interval - ✔✔1) The Mortises
2) Autolysis vs. Putrefaction
3) Forensic Entomology
4) Skeletal Deterioration
✔✔Forensic Taphonomy - ✔✔Science of burial
Studies what happens to the body from time of death to discovery
Useful for establishing postmortem interval
✔✔Datum - ✔✔The fixed reference point in provenience
, ✔✔Provenience - ✔✔Location of items in 3D in reference to a fixed reference point
✔✔Importance of Archaeological Context - ✔✔Relationships of objects determines their
significance
✔✔Indicators that a body has been out on the surface of the ground - ✔✔Extreme
scattering of bones by animals
Covering of remains by leaves
Dead vegetation and new growth
Partial or complete self-burial
✔✔How to spot a clandestine grave - ✔✔Disturbed vegetation
Soil compaction
Secondary depression
Disturbed soil
✔✔Archaeological Recovery - ✔✔1) Location
2) Mapping
3) Excavation (if buried)
4) Collection
✔✔Manner of death - ✔✔The manner in which the cause of death comes into being
Ex: homicide, suicide, accident, natural
✔✔Cause of death - ✔✔Disease/injury that initiates a sequence of events that result in
death
Ex: Gun shot wound, blunt forced trauma
✔✔Medicolegal Significance - ✔✔Those for which cause and manner of death are
determined and a death certificate is generated
✔✔Conditions of Interment/Context - ✔✔Burial patterns are "cultural compulsives"
Arrangement (flexed, extended, etc.)
Direction of face
Pretreatment (embalming, dress, cremation)
Burial enclosure (coffin, etc.)
What is normal today for burials may change
Forensics cases are often hasty burials
✔✔Material Culture - ✔✔Stuff the body was found with
Archaeological vs. modern material
Dating even modern material by changes in fashion, etc.
WITH SOLUTIONS RATED A+
✔✔Establishing the Forensic Context - ✔✔1) Is it bone at all?
2) Is it human bone or non-human bone?
3) If it is human, is it of medico-legal significance?
✔✔Histological Differences - in Humans - ✔✔Circular osteons
Random osteons
Various sized osteons
✔✔Histological Differences - in Animals - ✔✔Osteons + other
Can be banded
Plexiform, brick-like layers
✔✔Livor Mortis - ✔✔Discoloration of body due to settling of blood and other bodily fluids
Apparent at 1-2 hours
Well-developed at 3-4 hours
Fixed at 8-12 hours
✔✔Alvor Mortis - ✔✔Body temperature drops following death
Rectal temp drops 2 degrees Celsius for the first hour, drops 1 degree Celsius
thereafter, until reaches ambient room temperature
✔✔Rigor Mortis - ✔✔Occurs due to chemical binding of muscle fibers - muscles lock in
place, results in stiffness
Apparent within 1-2 hours
Complete stiffness in 12 hours
Released in 24-48 hours
✔✔Autolysis - ✔✔Results from cell death and action of enzymes that work against the
cell and destroy it
✔✔Putrefaction - ✔✔Consumption of body by endogenous bacteria
✔✔How To Estimate Postmortem Interval - ✔✔1) The Mortises
2) Autolysis vs. Putrefaction
3) Forensic Entomology
4) Skeletal Deterioration
✔✔Forensic Taphonomy - ✔✔Science of burial
Studies what happens to the body from time of death to discovery
Useful for establishing postmortem interval
✔✔Datum - ✔✔The fixed reference point in provenience
, ✔✔Provenience - ✔✔Location of items in 3D in reference to a fixed reference point
✔✔Importance of Archaeological Context - ✔✔Relationships of objects determines their
significance
✔✔Indicators that a body has been out on the surface of the ground - ✔✔Extreme
scattering of bones by animals
Covering of remains by leaves
Dead vegetation and new growth
Partial or complete self-burial
✔✔How to spot a clandestine grave - ✔✔Disturbed vegetation
Soil compaction
Secondary depression
Disturbed soil
✔✔Archaeological Recovery - ✔✔1) Location
2) Mapping
3) Excavation (if buried)
4) Collection
✔✔Manner of death - ✔✔The manner in which the cause of death comes into being
Ex: homicide, suicide, accident, natural
✔✔Cause of death - ✔✔Disease/injury that initiates a sequence of events that result in
death
Ex: Gun shot wound, blunt forced trauma
✔✔Medicolegal Significance - ✔✔Those for which cause and manner of death are
determined and a death certificate is generated
✔✔Conditions of Interment/Context - ✔✔Burial patterns are "cultural compulsives"
Arrangement (flexed, extended, etc.)
Direction of face
Pretreatment (embalming, dress, cremation)
Burial enclosure (coffin, etc.)
What is normal today for burials may change
Forensics cases are often hasty burials
✔✔Material Culture - ✔✔Stuff the body was found with
Archaeological vs. modern material
Dating even modern material by changes in fashion, etc.
