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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

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Page 1: Digging In

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

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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’

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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-

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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.

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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.

Page 6: Digging In

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

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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.