Forensic Anthropologist to Lecture

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Many people shudder at the thought of discovering human remains. For Dr. Murray K. Marks, doing that is just another day at work. Marks will present a lecture titled “All That Remains: Forensic Anthropology and the Medicolegal Investigation of Death” at 4 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 12, in the Helen Robson Walton Reading Room in Mullins Library.

Marks is a forensic anthropologist, someone who uses the traditional tools and techniques of anthropology in contemporary criminal cases. They assist investigators in identifying murder victims, interpreting signs of skeletal trauma to infer cause of death or in establishing the time of death. Marks says that he never gets bored with his job because “human variation makes every skeleton unique,” and, he adds, the “perimortem circumstances that bring them to forensic attention only adds to the excitement.”

Marks not only practices and consults in the field of forensic anthropology, he also teaches it. Marks, an alumnus of the University of Arkansas, now calls Knoxville, Tenn., his home. There he is associate professor of anthropology and pathology at the University of Tennessee, associate director of the Forensic Anthropology Center, and curator of the Forensic Anthropology Facility, which gained the popular nickname “The Body Farm” from the title of a best-selling crime novel by Patricia Cornwell.

The facility, founded by anthropologist Dr. William M. Bass in 1971, consists of a five-acre wooded plot, in which bodies are exposed in a number of ways to provide insights into decomposition under varying conditions. These experiments enable Marks and his students to observe and understand the processes and timetable of postmortem decay, which helps them to better determine the time elapsed since death in criminal cases.

In recent years, the Forensic Anthropology Facility has played an increasingly important role in developing or testing new forensic technologies, and also in training law-enforcement groups like FBI agents, crime-scene technicians, and cadaver dogs and their handlers.

Marks will be showing slides and discussing his work at 4 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 12, in the Helen Robson Walton Reading Room of the Mullins Library on the University of Arkansas campus. A reception will follow. For more information, call (479) 575-6702.

WARNING: The content will be graphic in nature and is therefore unsuitable for children.