Pollen analysis reveals murder season

Pollen analysis is well established in palaeogeographical research 1 , 2 , but it remains an underused resource in forensic science 3 , 4 . So far it has been used to investigate only one reported case of murder 5 , but has not to our knowledge been used to determine the time of death. We examined a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature (London) 1998-10, Vol.395 (6701), p.449-450
Main Authors: Szibor, R., Schubert, C., Schöning, R., Krause, D., Wendt, U.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Forensic Medicine
Forensic science
Germany
History of medicine
History, 20th Century
Homicide
Humanities and Social Sciences
Humans
Male
Military Personnel
multidisciplinary
Murders & murder attempts
Pollen
Pollen - classification
Respiratory System
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
scientific-correspondence
Seasons
Secret police
Skull
USSR
Warfare
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Summary:Pollen analysis is well established in palaeogeographical research 1 , 2 , but it remains an underused resource in forensic science 3 , 4 . So far it has been used to investigate only one reported case of murder 5 , but has not to our knowledge been used to determine the time of death. We examined a common grave containing 32 murder victims, and used pollen analysis to establish that the murders must have occurred in the summer of an unknown year. A knowledge of the season of the murder could help to determine who was responsible for the murders.
ISSN:0028-0836
1476-4687
DOI:10.1038/26646