Investigation of Alternate Light Sources and Bone Fluorescence
Additional Funding Sources
The funding for this project was supported or partially supported by Idaho State University Office of the Provost Undergraduate Research funds.
Abstract
Forensic and biological anthropology have long been in the practice of recovering remains in atypical environments. It is necessary to accomplish any form of survey during the day while bones are more visible, rather than scour the landscape at night with handheld lights that only allow a short amount of light penetration through the darkness. Recovery of evidence is essential in every forensic case and new technologies using alternate light sources (ALS) has led to much discovery of human organic material left at crime scenes. It is with this understanding that researchers now know human bone will fluoresce under specific wavelengths of alternate light. This project was constructed to observe and photograph fluorescence of fresh, anatomical, and historic bone under alternate light source wavelengths paired with a red, amber, or yellow glass filters. The results confirmed that bone from all three categories would fluoresce and would be highly visible under low and high BMT paired with the red glasses. The research then proves that utilizing alternate light sources would be successful in outdoor surveys and skeletal recovery.
Investigation of Alternate Light Sources and Bone Fluorescence
Forensic and biological anthropology have long been in the practice of recovering remains in atypical environments. It is necessary to accomplish any form of survey during the day while bones are more visible, rather than scour the landscape at night with handheld lights that only allow a short amount of light penetration through the darkness. Recovery of evidence is essential in every forensic case and new technologies using alternate light sources (ALS) has led to much discovery of human organic material left at crime scenes. It is with this understanding that researchers now know human bone will fluoresce under specific wavelengths of alternate light. This project was constructed to observe and photograph fluorescence of fresh, anatomical, and historic bone under alternate light source wavelengths paired with a red, amber, or yellow glass filters. The results confirmed that bone from all three categories would fluoresce and would be highly visible under low and high BMT paired with the red glasses. The research then proves that utilizing alternate light sources would be successful in outdoor surveys and skeletal recovery.
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