The Body Farm By William Bass

An anthropologist, William Bass, created the University of Tennessee Anthropological Research Facility, also known as “The Body Farm”, in 1972. The main focus of this project is the decomposition process of human remains, to get a better understanding at crime scenes. Professionals know little to nothing about decomposition of human remains, which is a purpose for this facility. William Bass is known for his knowledge on human decomposition. The cadaver bodies are received in multiple ways. For example, one can now donate their body to science for the University of Tennessee Anthropological Research Facility. Most of the cadavers at the beginning were unclaimed bodies, with not much known about the person in particular, from the State of Tennessee Medical Examiner. Some of the studies happening at the University of

Within days, raccoons are seen to begin scavenging; with the help of other animals, the remains are to a minimum (Morton, 2006), where raccoons are soon to attack the limbs of bodies the most (Jeong, 2016). Raccoons have been seen to scavenge less when focused on one body during the summer (Jeong, 2016). When coming to the insect process of postmortem, scavenging effects the process of this, which makes it harder to go forward with the investigation, as it changes the already known facts of the stages of postmortem. This research is being done so we can see how it does affect the process and to help experts recognize if a body has been scavenged at a crime scene by a raccoon. The research of raccoon scavenging is also helpful to notice the differences between postmortem intervals and scavenging from an animal. Not all crime scenes are scavenged by raccoons, but it is important to know whether or not the area has been contaminated for evidence in the forensics