NEW DIMENSIONS IN FORENSIC PROFILING: IMAGING BURNED HUMAN BONES AT IMAT

Neutron imaging at IMAT will be applied to the study of burned human skeletal remains, for assessing heat-induced changes associated to alterations in bone´s microcrystallinity. This work follows successful experiments on MAPS, TOSCA and GEM which were the first studies on human burned bones by neutron techniques and allowed us to identify spectral biomarkers of heat-elicited alterations [1-7]. Combined spectroscopic (including FTIR and Raman), diffraction and imaging methods are expected to provide an improved understanding of the variations undergone by bone upon burning. A quantitative relationship between these data, dimensional variations and burning conditions is sought, to relate burned to pre-burned parameters. This is an innovative way of tackling heat-induced changes in human bone, with a high impact in forensic profiling as well as in bioarchaeological investigation.

本研究将依托IMAT开展中子成像（Neutron imaging）实验，用于焚烧后人类骨骼遗骸的研究，以评估与骨骼微晶度改变相关的热诱导变化。本研究延续了此前在MAPS、TOSCA与GEM上完成的成功实验——上述设备上的实验是首批利用中子技术开展的人类焚烧骨骼研究，使我们得以识别热诱导骨骼改变的光谱生物标志物[1-7]。结合光谱学方法（涵盖傅里叶变换红外光谱（FTIR）与拉曼光谱（Raman））、衍射技术与成像手段，有望进一步阐明骨骼在焚烧过程中发生的各项变化。本研究旨在建立上述实验数据、骨骼尺寸变化与焚烧条件之间的定量关系，以关联焚烧后骨骼与焚烧前的各项参数。这是一种研究人类骨骼热诱导变化的创新路径，在法医鉴定与生物考古研究领域均具有重要影响力。