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.