FORENSIC PALEONTOLOGY: THE UTILIZATION OF PALEONTOLOGICAL RESEARCH TECHNIQUES IN COLLABORATIVE EFFORTS WITH LAW ENFORCEMENT

Since the origin of forensic investigations, collaboration between the scientific community and law enforcement agencies have advanced crime scene techniques and practices at great lengths. Today, successful investigative collaborations often include detailed analyses in biology, anthropology, and geology. However, research methods often used in vertebrate paleontology also have valuable applications in forensic investigations. Here we describe four case studies where forensic investigations led by northern, northeastern, and southern county law enforcement agencies in Wisconsin have incorporated techniques used in vertebrate paleontological research. These techniques include retrodeformation of human cranial elements based on studies conducted on diplodocid sauropod vertebrae, taphonomic applications of human skeletal disarticulation based on vertebrate bonebed interpretations, and reconstructions of blunt-force trauma modeled after studies on paleopathologies and bite-force analysis. These efforts further demonstrate the interdisciplinary nature of forensic research and highlight unique occasions when Lyell’s theory of uniformitarianism is inverted, and the past is the key to the present.