digging in
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Digging In
The Establishment of the Forensic Archaeology Section of the West Midlands
Police Force
By Karl Harrison, with contributions from Elizabeth Cormell
Synopsis
Over the past three years, the West Midlands Police Force has kindly entertained
the establishment of a new service, which, to the best of my knowledge remains
unique within UK policing. Whilst other forces may have employed and made use
of individual members of staff with a background in archaeology, the West
Midlands Police is believed to be the first to offer a comprehensive in-house
Forensic Archaeology Section, at this disposal of CID officers across the region,
24/7.
What is Forensic Archaeology?
Forensic Archaeology is the application of archaeological techniques within a
forensic context. Forensic archaeologists utilise many of the same skills that
traditional archaeologists rely upon to generate information about the past. Most
notably, these skills are used to search for and excavate victims of murder who
have been subject to concealment by burial. In these circumstances, archaeology
not only assures the complete recovery of the contents of the grave, but can also
say a lot about how the grave was prepared and who prepared it.
Archaeological Misconceptions
“Archaeology is all about the ancient past”
Even though most of archaeology seen by the public consists of historical sites,
some of great antiquity, the same principles can be applied to recent ‘scenes’. As
soon as the ground is altered; a hole dug, a pile made or building knocked down,
the archaeological record is altered. This can be meaningful whether it happened
this morning, last month or last century.
“Archaeology Takes Forever”
Most of the jobs we undertake are completed in less than a day. We can work
quite quickly, with a small amount of excavation, get to a depth where it is
obvious that either nothing, or a family pet, has been buried. Other jobs may just
involve looking at bones and the context from which they come. The majority of
these turn out to be animal bones and this can be established within minutes
(usually) of our arrival.
“A Team of Police Officers could dig for a body far more quickly”
This may be correct (although we dig holes quite quickly too) but the skills we use
to identify pertinent markers and items are not routinely taught to Police Officers.
This experience can lead to the maximisation of any evidence that may be
contained within a hole, be it a grave or just a disposal site for weapons etc..
The FAS
The Forensic Archaeology Section (FAS) consists of three dual-trained crime scene
manager / forensic archaeologists, whose primary employment is in dealing with
major and volume crime scenes on their respective Operational Command Units
(OCUs). In addition to this, they share a responsibility to attend and examine a
range of scenes where their abilities as forensic archaeologists might prove
useful.
One of the factors crucial to the success of the FAS is that it is not merely staffed
by Scenes of Crime Officers with a general awareness of archaeological issues.
The archaeologists involved are not only competent scene managers, but have in
excess of thirty years archaeological experience between them, and all can act as
expert witnesses within the field. Whilst keeping up the day job of scene
examination, they also maintain an academic profile, keeping close links with
Professor John Hunter, widely recognised as the father of UK forensic archaeology,
at the University of Birmingham. Additionally, they provide awareness training
within West Midlands Police, as well as academic lecturing at universities and
forensic service providers across the country.
The Work
Whilst it might not seem at first thought that an urban area such as the West
Midlands would generate much archaeological interest, as officers have come to
appreciate the range of cases in which archaeology might play a part, the
workload has steadily grown. Simple jobs, such as the identification of bones
recovered by members of the public form a large part of the ‘volume’
archaeological work, whereas more involved cases, such as long-term searches
for missing persons, or the investigation of sites suspected of harbouring
clandestine graves tend to be far more time-consuming.
The demand has proved surprising. From a standing start in mid-2003,
establishing a brand new service which had no tradition of existing within a police
context, the FAS has dealt with in excess of 60 cases, in addition to regular
commitments for officer training. As awareness within the force continues to
grow, it is expected that this demand will continue to rise.
The Establishment of the FAS
In the past, UK police forces have traditionally relied upon the work of
independent experts to provide archaeological expertise as and when required.
This initially raises the thorny prospect of who is then to judge which jobs might
be advanced by an archaeological understanding, and at what point should an
investigation consider bearing the cost of an external contractor?
By developing this internal service, the West Midlands Police has optimised their
response to such work. The in-house archaeologists can be utilised for a range of
jobs that might otherwise have been thought financially imprudent to use external
agents, such as the identification of mystery bones within the force area, or
perhaps more importantly, the long-term advisory capacity offered to missing
persons’ searches.
Where required, the close links between the FAS and University of Birmingham
allows for the rapid use of external specialists where the internal archaeologists
feel it most appropriate. Additionally, the FAS has links to a wide range of experts
in other related disciplines, such as anthropology, geophysics and sedimentology;
and can refer to them as and when required.
Related Disciplines
Forensic Anthropology – the examination of skeletal material. Anthropological
analysis most frequently aims to identify an individual from their bones by
determining their sex, age at death, time since deposition, and any damage to the
bones that occurred whilst the individual was alive.
Forensic Geophysics – Geophysics is the science of interpreting remote-sensing
images taken of underground features. Geophysicists have worked closely with
archaeologists for a long period of time in using electrical, magnetic and radar-
based methods to produce images of buried archaeological features without
excavating them. Forensically-trained geophysicists are extremely useful in
searching for and locating buried bodies.
Forensic Palynology – Palynology is the study of pollen given off by plants and
trees. Profiles of many types of pollen can be highly individual to a location.
Therefore, by gathering samples close to, or within a grave context, some
conclusion may be reached as to where a body has been transported from, or in
what month a body may have been buried.
Case Study
In April 2005, the partial remains of a skeleton were discovered on waste ground
in the West Midlands. Due to a number of ongoing murder enquiries, these
remains were immediately treated as those of a murder victim, until proved
otherwise.
The West Midlands Police Forensic Archaeology Section, in conjunction with
Scenes of Crime Officers and external specialists, were able to ascertain that the
remains were elderly, and unlikely to be those of any outstanding individuals
believed to be victims of murder.
We then went about systematically recording and recovering the remains. During
the course of this operation, we located a pacemaker still within the chest cavity
of the individual.
By means of the unique markings on the pacemaker, as well as the recorded
context in which the remains were found, we were able to positively identify the
individual, and establish that he was a long-term missing person unlikely to have
been the victim of a violent assault.
Skeleton found on waste ground
Other Scenes
The excavation of clandestine graves is far from the limit of forensic archaeology.
The techniques of excavation and spatial recording are equally applicable to the
understanding of collapse sequences in fire scenes, the supervision of police
exhumations, or potentially in the dispersal caused by explosives.
Complex fire scenes and police exhumations are both scenes where use of a
forensic archaeologist might be considered.
Future developments within WMP
Through continued internal training courses, awareness-raising exercises and
involvement in major incidents, we envisage that the burden of casework on the
section will continue to rise to some extent. Similarly, it is hoped that the
potential to expand the service and offer it over a wider strategic area might be
recognised and capitalised on, as with other pooled specialist resources, such as
underwater search teams and mounted units.
Likewise, the link back into an academic context would seem to be more pertinent
now than ever, with an increasing proportion of new Scenes of Crime Officers
being drawn from the ranks of forensic science graduates. Academics involved in
the teaching of forensic disciplines face a constant challenge of keeping their
exposure to operational work up to date, and specialists such as the FAS offer an
unprecedented opportunity to lend research establishments the benefit of their
experience.
Authors
Karl Harrison is a member of the West Midlands Police Forensic Archaeology
Section. He is a Consulting Forensic Archaeologist and an Associate Researcher
and Lecturer at Cranfield University.
Elizabeth Anscombe is a member of the West Midlands Police Forensic
Archaeology Section. She studied archaeology under Professor Hunter at the
University of Birmingham.
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