Dating of prehistoric anthropogenic earthworks requires either excavation for archaeological artifacts or macroscopic organic matter suitable for 14C analysis. Yet, the former, in many cases, is undesirable and the latter is difficult to obtain. Here we present a soil science procedure, which has the potential to overcome these problems. It includes careful sampling of buried former soil surfac...

This ongoing monitoring study provides forensic search teams with systematic geophysical data over simulated clandestine graves for comparison to active cases. Simulated "wrapped," "naked," and "control" burials were created. Multiple geophysical surveys were collected over 6 years, here showing data from 4 to 6 years after burial. Electrical resistivity (twin electrode and ERI), multifrequency...

Biological soil crusts (BSCs) are an important source of organic carbon, and affect a range of ecosystem functions in arid and semiarid environments. Yet the impact of grazing disturbance on crust properties and soil CO(2) efflux remain poorly studied, particularly in African ecosystems. The effects of burial under wind-blown sand, disaggregation and removal of BSCs on seasonal variations in so...

In most Latin American countries there are significant numbers of missing people and forced disappearances, 68,000 alone currently in Colombia. Successful detection of shallow buried human remains by forensic search teams is difficult in varying terrain and climates. This research has created three simulated clandestine burial styles at two different depths commonly encountered in Latin America...

Adipocere refers to a postmortem product which forms from body fat in the later stages of decomposition. Factors present in the surrounding decomposition environment will influence adipocere formation and may accelerate or retard the process of conversion. One such factor important in burial environments is the type of grave soil in which the burial has taken place. This study was conducted to ...

This article reports experiments that explore the critical factors for gene flow in oilseed rape (Brassica napus) via the soil seedbank under Chinese farming systems. Research was carried out on 16 farmer s fields to estimate harvest seed losses after different planting methods and harvest timings, during the four components of the harvest operations. An additional field experiment was set up t...

Some death scene investigations commence without knowledge of the location of the body and/or decomposition site. In these cases, it is necessary to locate the remains or the site where the body decomposed prior to movement. We hypothesized that the burial of a mammalian cadaver will result in the release of ninhydrin reactive nitrogen (NRN) into associated soil and that this reaction might hav...

The micromorphological investigation suggested that materials with traces of ploughing, buried under the road, were in situ soils probably truncated or rearranged before burial. The analysis also showed that materials from a context at the roadside (Context 536) were not comparable to the buried soils sealed by the Roman road, and had probably been dumped or deposited by gravity at the road sid...

Microbiological breakdowin of cellulose materials in soil as influenced by the soil environment is of interest to both agriculture and industry. The need for better understanding of possible effects due to variations in soil used as a component of soil burial beds led to investigations on the cellulolytic activities of diverse mineral soils. An accompanying paper (Schmidt and Ruschmeyer, 1958) ...