Book Review Of Dead Men Do Tell Tales By William R Maples

Dead Men Do Tell Tales by William R. Maples chronicles Dr. Maples a forensic anthropology at the University of Florida. The book starts by talking about William maples before he found his career path and love for forensic anthropology. He started by working on an ambulance while in college. One of the most interesting things Maples says in this section is that he learned quickly he was capable of dealing with gruesome scenes this stuck out to me because he made an analysis that had never dawned on me, the people who work these accident scenes see the more gruesome parts of these accidents, by the time these people reach the Emergency Room they are often a much prettier picture, by then the victims often more cleaned up than they are at the

In his assessment of the skull being Mongoloid he was correct, however, even though he was correct in his assessment the determination as to why was a bit shakier, McKern pointed out many features, and landmarks that Maple had seen but hadn't fully understood the significance of. The skull in question was missing its mandible, common in forensic cases where skulls are found and had fishing line tied through its zygomatic arch with a rock at the other end, the conclusion of this case was that the skull was a trophy skull. It is believed that the loved one who the skull belonged to had passed and the relatives who found it had no idea what to do with the skull or how to dispose of the skull, so they took it and threw it into a river near Austin Texas. This case is very similar to the case of the Happy Valley Skull from our case studies book, the skull found by children on the lawn that turned out to be a trophy skull that was kept in the garage and put outside on display for Halloween, this is

In the chapter "Bolts of Bones" is where we get a description of what happens to the body upon death, from being overcome by bacteria. Dr. Maples was called in to work examine a peat encrusted skull, found in the swamp near the museum. The first step in examining the skull was to clean it off and steam it removing the vegetation. The skull was a skull of a toothless obviously deaf man due to the damage on the temporal bones of the skull. The vertebrae of the elderly man were fused together. Maple researched more into the damage on the skull and found that it was likely from a middle ear infection which if not treated starts to eat away the middle ear and cause motor nerve problems. This chapter however gives a glimpse into what decaying bodies are actually like because many of the man's neighbors said that in his last days he had and awful smell and was barely there mentally. This emphasized the processes involved in decomposition autolysis, and putrefaction. Autolysis occurs after death when digestive juices, which when you are alive only digest food, begin to digest the intestinal tract. Within hours, your stomach and esophagus are "eaten". Putrefaction occurs as a result of bacterial activity throughout the body and goes through the lifeless body like a "silent