Page 13 - Science Focus (Issue 018)

A few miles from downtown Knoxville, Tennessee, the administration, he was granted a parcel of land that
in a wooden plot surrounded by barbed wires, cadavers gradually expanded to what's now the 2.5-acre Forensic
are put inside wire cages, car trunks or even submerged Anthropology Center, established in 1987. With around
underwater. Figures clad in gloves and water-repellent 100 donated bodies each year, the facility exposes
gowns work through the stench and the swarm of flies, them to a variety of settings: clothed or naked, exposed
jotting down observations of the decaying cadavers and to scavengers or sheltered, subjected to summer heat or
scooping up soil samples into a jar. This is the University wintry blast. In each of these settings, the conditions of
of Tennessee Anthropological Research Facility, better the bodies and environmental variables are periodically
known by a macabre-sounding nickname: the Body recorded. Once the person's remains become skeletal,
Farm [1]. they are deposited to the William M. Bass Donated
Collection, the largest collection of skeletal remains from
The Tennessee Body Farm was first conceived in modern people in the U.S., consisting of over 1800 sets of
1971 as its founder, Dr. William M. Bass, realized the skeletons. The collection helps researcher systematically
dearth of knowledge concerning the dead, having study the effects of diseases such as diabetes and
once incorrectly underestimated the age of a corpse obesity on bones, as well as the difference in bone
by 113 years (The remains were thought to be only a structure between different demographic groups. The
few months old, but were in fact that of a 19th century facility accepts not only the freshly deceased, but also
Colonel William Shy, killed during the American Civil War cremated remains, which also contain information, such
and embalmed for preservation.) [2]. After appealing to as the sex of the former owners [3].

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How Body Farm Aids By Terrence Tai 戴煒庭
Criminal Investigation

在美 國 田 納 西 州（Tennessee）城 市 諾 克 斯 維 爾 於1987 年成立、面積達 2.5 英畝的法醫人類學中心。該機
（Knoxville）的數英里外，有一片受帶刺鐵絲網保護的空 構每年收到約 100 具捐贈遺體後，會把它們放置於不同的
地，裡面屍橫遍野。屍體分別被放置於鐵絲籠、車尾箱、甚 條件和環境下作研究：身穿衣服或是全身赤裸、暴露於食腐
至被浸在水中。穿戴著手套和防水袍的身影在惡臭和蒼蠅 動物或是放置於安全環境、放在夏日酷暑或是冬日寒風下。
中徘徊：他們觀察並記下腐屍的狀態之餘，又把土壤樣本 在每個設定下，屍體的狀態和環境參數都會定期被紀錄下
舀起儲存於一個罐子裡。這是田納西大學人類學研究設施 來。當遺體腐化成骨之後，骨架會被送至 William M. Bass
（University of Tennessee Anthropological Research 遺骸收藏集（William M. Bass Donation Collection）。
Facility），更廣為人知的是它另一個駭人聽聞的暱稱：人體 這套收藏集擁有超過 1800 套骨架，是美國最大的現代人
農場（Body Farm）[1]。 類骨架收藏集，它除了能夠幫助學者研究糖尿病、肥胖症
等疾病對人體骨骼的影響外，還能為比較不同族群骨骼
田納西人體農場最初由 William M. Bass 博士於 1971 結構的研究提供參考。機構不但接受剛去世的遺體，還接
年構思，契機是一次判斷屍體死亡時間的工作，令他意識 收已火化的遺體，因為骨灰也包含不少資訊，例如死者的
到當時對屍體知識的貧乏：在那次工作中，他推斷的死亡 性別等 [3]。
時間與真實的誤差足足為 113 年（他誤判那死者只在數月
前去世，但其實遺體來自在十九世紀於美國內戰中戰死的 人類學研究設施的最大貢獻在於它促進了我們對於死
William Shy 上校，遺體經過防腐處理）[2]。在向相關行政 後變化（post-mortem changes）的了解，亦即是死亡後
部門爭取後，他獲得了一塊土地，及後逐步擴大並變成現在 身體會出現的各樣變化。如果你在炎炎夏日不慎把一隻豬
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