FORENSIC PALYNOLOGY: A STATISTICAL COMPARISON OF KNOWN SAMPLES ALONG A TRANSECT IN WESTERN VIRGINIA

Palynology can augment law enforcement investigations by helping determine, or narrow the possibilities, of unknown locations. For example, pollen assemblages, when they are distinct enough, can be used to determine where a person or object may have travelled or the location of clandestine grave sites. The provenance of an object from an “unknown” location is determined by comparing the pollen assemblage recovered from the object to published pollen databases or inferred by knowledge of relevant plant community distributions. However, these comparisons are not always quantitative in nature. In this study, we analyze a set of objects associated with a “suspect”, such as vehicle floor mat and shoe debris, that travel a known route. Surface soil samples were tested along this route in order to determine a) the relationship between pollen assemblages from soil samples and objects, and b) if pollen assemblages from the objects could be tied to specific locations. Similarities of the pollen assemblages were determined by using the Modern Analog Technique (MAT). Preliminary results indicate that having surface sample pollen databases with high spatial resolution can increase the accuracy in determining the provenance of an item.