First of all, what is a body farm? When you think of the term “farm” you think of an area in which things grow, so you would think that a body farm is a place were bodies grow...right? But this is silly because as we all well know humans grow inside of female humans. It is strange how when you think of “body,” it is automatically human. Why not dog or cow? But your first thought of what form the body comes in, human, is what the body farm is made up of. They are just dead bodies. A body farm, simply put is an area in which different bodies are put under different scenarios of death as to help forensic anthropologists along with federal agents to understand what the body would go through.
       Dr. Bill Bass, the creator of the first body farm, made it as a tool for his forensic anthropological students. They needed to be put in a real life scenario to get practice for the real thing. From differentiating bone from wood or stone, to being introduced to how to deal with a dead body; smell and all. Not only that but teaching them how to differentiate human bone from animal bones. Look at the photo below; can you see which one is human? 

       The one on the left is chimpanzee and the one on the right is human. You can tell by the carpals (the small bones at the bottom of the photo), that the one for the chimpanzee has two spaces and are jutted out, while the human is more filled. Also, the chimpanzee, as you can see, is much thinner. But when students have to identify human bones amoungst other animal bones such as the clavicle (collar bone), or even a rib, then it gets complicated. Some students who have proved themselves out in the body farm can be put on the examination of replicated crime scenes to figure out just what happened and how.
       Now the actual body farm is as diversified as any amusement park. There are bodies scattered around the farm all in different situations. Some are buried, others are left out, some are even put into cars to see how the bodies decompose in each of these. Although the ones that are just left on the ground, some in the shade, others in the sun, all have a cage around them to prevent interference from outside elements; such as vultures. There are not that many body farms though, there are plans by other countries to make two outside the U.S.; one in Australia and one in India. The first one that Dr. Bass founded in 1980 at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville is still active. This is just one of four others; these are at the Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, North Carolina, and the last two are both in Texas, one at Texas State University in San Marcos and Sam Houston State University in Huntsville. You must be wondering, as I was, why these are not in every state. Although these farms require lots of space. For example, the one in San Marcos is a 16 acre field which is 7 miles from the actual city of San Marcos. The reason for this is because with all those bodies decomposing the smell must be unbearable to live near these 16 acres.
       Bodies that are put in these farms are either donated or unclaimed bodies from morgues. That said, they are treated with the utmost respect. Even though these are basically meat bags, without them the students, the future of forensic, even physical anthropology, would be an even smaller field with untrained eyes. When they are put into positions or situations they are moved as if they were still alive. Reason being, yes out of respect, but also if you handle a dead body too roughly that can compromise the results of the experiment. Even though these farms are primarily for teaching humans, they also teach another form of animal; dogs.
       I am sure that you have heard of blood hounds, but the dogs that are trained in body farms can find a body without using blood as a start. Also, there is not just one breed of dog; any breed can learn how to find a body. They start off with the obvious above ground bodies and as they get better and better the people who are in charge of putting together these tests bury a body then cover the soil with a concrete slab, because there have been cases in which a body was buried using that method. When the dogs find a body they do one of two things; they either lay down near the spot, or they bark.
       As I have stated before, these bodies are put into any and all situations; hung, buried, put into water to name a few. These body farms can be gruesome for most, but for the select few who wish to pursue the knowledge they can gain from it, it is a start to a small but powerful profession. It is sad to say, but think of all the “inventive” ways we humans have come up with to murder someone, without these body farms, we could only see the end result and theorize what the body went through and what the murder did. Dr. Bass has truly made an imprint on the future of forensic anthropology with his creation. 

WARNING: GRAPHIC PHOTOS AHEAD

       We all know that the body decays after death, but there are several steps. Before I begin with the steps, there is one key factor to take into account to how fast the decaying process happens: the weather. The one where the decay process is the slowest is in dry heat. The most likely environment you would find constant dry heat would be the desert. This type of decay does not really have the body decay but mummifies it. Some people theorize this form of “decay” is where the Egyptian's got inspiration from. The next one is slow as well and is also a form of mummification. This one is the freezing cold. The most famous example of this form of “decay” or preservation is Otzi, the Iceman. Although for the body to fully decay in freezing cold is for it to be constant. If the body is frozen, then thawed, then frozen again and so on the body will be preserved like Otzi. The environment in which decay occurs the fastest are those the resemble rainforest heat with humidity. Most of the deaths that happen in the summer in the United States decompose this way if the body is not dealt with quickly.
       Now, even though decay is a huge part of the death process, it is not the only one. That said, in the rest of this blog I will list the decaying process along with other steps in images. As I warned at the beginning of this blog, there are graphic photos ahead. You have been warned.
PALLOR MORTIS AND ALGOR MORTIS
       The first two steps are pallor mortis and algor mortis. Pallor mortis is just as it sounds, the body gets a white/pale complexion. This happens within 15 or so minutes because it is no longer receiving blood. Now when the body is not receiving warm blood it, of course, cools down. This cooling period is algor mortis. I am sure you have seen in crime shows where they take the temperature of the body and come up with how long they have been dead; algor mortis makes this possible. The body cools down 2 degrees Celsius within the first hour, then 1 degree Celsius every hour after that until it reaches room, or ambient, temperature.
RIGOR MORTIS
       The following photo is an example of the next step, rigor mortis. This happens 2 to 6 hours after death. In this step the muscle fibers tighten as cause from chemical changes. Rigor mortis can last from 24 to 36 hours. After this time the enzymes begin to eat the protein that was keeping the body stiff. 

LIVOR MORTIS
       Next we have livor mortis. This is when the body begins to turn colours. Although I have put this after rigor mortis, this step can happen within minutes or hours after death. When the heart stops beating the blood is a victim of gravity as it flows down to the parts that are closest to the ground. If the corpse is in a supine position, the blood goes to the buttocks and the back. In the photos for this step you can clearly see in what postion they died in. The one in the middle you can see on the side the difference in skin colour. But livor mortis is a cause of this. When the blood flows from the veins towards the top of the body those parts turn shades or purple-red discolouration. 

PUTREFACTION
      Then putrefaction begins. Here the corpse turns one more colour: green. This along with a putrid odor were once seen as signs that the body was indeed dead. Insects, such as blue bottle flies help with this one. They surround the corpse and lay eggs in the body. One corpse can be the host to 2000 of these flies. A mold forms in the cracks of the body, and there is a cheesy smell on the corpse. Putrefaction also produces batyric acid which helps in the next step.

DECOMPOSITION
       Which is decomposition. Pressure from the batyric and the gasses helps in decomposition. It causes the body to move and leak. You would think the first organ to decompose would be the stomach because it will no longer has the live enzymes to keep the acid under control, so it begins to eat itself, but it is not. The first organs to decompose are the larynx, which is the voice box, and the trachea, which is the wind pipe. The two organs that stay the longest are the uterus in women, and the prostate in men. 

SKELETONIZATION
       When everything has been decomposed, which does take a while. For a body buried in warm soil, it will take 25 years to decompose, for dry soil, 50 years to decompose, and in the desert 100 years to decompose. Well, after the body has been eaten by flies, other bugs, even eaten by itself, all that is left is the skeleton. The actual skeleton can last for hundred of years underground before it disintegrates, and sometimes they may fossilize. 

       As you can see the process of death is a very interesting and time consuming process. And this happens to every animal, of which humans are part of it. There is no escaping this fate; this is inevitable. It is strange to think just as someone is born they begin to die; slowly, but surely. I have given you a glimpse into what will happen. But do not worry, you will not be a live when there are insect laying eggs in your ears, or when those eggs hatch and begin to eat you or when your organs decay and your stomach begins to eat you as well...or will you? I am kidding, not need for alarm! All that will be left of you will be a pile of valuable bones, that will be you nevertheless. I truly hope that I have not made anyone sick or nauseous with the photos.
       Please feel free to leave me a comment either about this blog or on an anthropological subject you would like me to cover.
(photo below is all of what I have described in this blog but with a pig as an example)

       Whether we want to believe it or not, but cannibalism has been a part of human history back to our evolutionary ancestors. Now, even though you may think that the act of cannibalism has not been practiced since days of old, it is still very alive now. I will talk about and examine three different forms of cannibalism. I would go into how the act of cannibalism happens, but humans are just mammals. So the method of cooking human flesh is very similar to that of how you would cook beef or pork.
       I will now first tackle cannibalism in culture. Many ancient tribes would use cannibalism as ritual. If you read my previous blog about human sacrifice, the Aztecs along with other I did no address would eat the body as a part of a method of sacrifice. Now, the Aztec culture existed 493 years ago, but since they were wiped out and integrated into the Spanish culture and way of life, many other “primitive” cultures continued cannibalism. One such one still, to this day, practices cannibalism. These people are a part of a tribe called the Kukukukus, who live in the jungles of New Guinea (there was another tribe named the Korowai but they no longer practice cannibalism). Even though they do practice cannibalism, they are relatively peaceful people. However, when an old or new enemy presents itself their disposition quickly changes. From when they are small children they are hardened so as not to retreat or go easy on an enemy. One way they do this is when they take a prisoner they, the children, use a prisoner as a target before said prisoner is stoned to death. Once dead, the body is cut apart and cooked with local vegetables in a ground oven. Once cooked the festivities begin and if the prisoner was a warrior the young men have the honour of eating the muscular parts of the body. But even though this tribe does practice cannibalism they usually do it out of need; when they do not have traditional meats or human, they eat small mammals, like rodents. 
       Speaking of survival, there are a few instances in modern history where cannibalism was the only hope for survival. One that happened during the early 1870's concerned a gold prospector from the United States who went on an expedition with five other people to the Colorado mountains. But after two months when he came back down, he came alone. When questioned he told them that he had to kill them in self defense and reluctantly confessed to eating their bodies to survive. He was then sentenced to 40 years. He was not seen as a murderer, but as a cannibal. The next modern case happened in the early 1970's. But the people who practiced cannibalism in this instance was no penalized because of it. Reason being is they were part of a plane that crashed into a mountain and lived on the dead of the crash for 2 months to stay alive. Out of 45 passengers, 16 were lucky enough to be a live. But I am sure they did no feel very lucky to have to eat the dead.
       Some cannibals have a disorder in that they need to eat human. Modern society has dubbed this select few as following...serial killers. The most famous cannibal serial killer is Jefferey Dahmer. His selected form of prey were young men. He would lure them to his apartment. After doing so he would commence to murdering and dismembering them. Although he did not exclusively eat them; he would would both conduct experiments and eat them. Eating a body is a way to dispose of it, but serial killers like Dahmer enjoyed the eating part. Example, another serial killer, John Haigh, would pout acid on his victims bodies so no evidence of them would remain. For Dahmer the eating of human flesh was one of the heights of the kill. 
       There are many people out there that just the thought of eating another human is not just unthinkable but also disgusting and stomach turning. But there is a small percentage who would like to try it and a small percentage who would give them the chance. A few examples are a man in Japan who cut off his testicles, cooked them, and was selling them for $250 to a man who ate his own finger after he lost it in an accident. There are many ways of life, some that are now illegal and unthinkable were the norm early on. Even though we think ourselves are more cultured now, as I said, there is a small percentage who would break this taboo to try human flesh. Even thinking about consuming human flesh is a taboo. Have you? Or better yet...would you?
       Please feel free to leave me a comment either about this blog or on an anthropological subject you would like me to cover.  

       When you hear the word “sacrifice,” what is the first thought or scenario that comes into your head? Maybe soldiers who sacrifice themselves on the battle field or when you sacrifice a snack to be more healthy? Sure those are types of sacrifices, but in ancient times for the things that were being sacrificed, it was not up to them. In the following I will explain three different types of sacrificial practices but with one medium. Which one? Humans of course.
       The first two cultures are two that are very well know. One that is almost synonymous with human sacrifice while the other is not. The one that is not are the Romans. They have been seen a very civilized culture, but in earlier days, and some parts of the later ones, they were far from civilized. To make the later Roman civilization under the impression they only sacrificed animals, they would use anthropomorphised puppets as a substitute. For example at Feriae Latinatae at the end of April, they would hand puppets from trees as a substitute for sacrificing young boys. And I am sure that we all have heard of the gladiators. Of course they were once the ultimate fighters, but later on the Romans would use slaves and criminals. They were seen as expendable, and how they died in the games was entertainment for the masses, although it had another purpose. The death of the gladiators in the religious sense that their deaths were used as sacrifices towards the Manes (spirits of the dead).
       The next culture that modern days peoples of the world see as sacrifice crazy are the Aztecs. Now I suppose that this is understandable as being they would sacrifice thousands of their population, several archaeologists estimate more or less than 20,000 per year. They were in the practice of blood-debt, in layman terms they believed they owed everything to their gods, because the gods created themselves and everything around them so they would give the gods back a little, or a lot, of their creation; the life force of the Aztec people. The blood. Main method of sacrifice went as so: they would place the person to be sacrificed on a slab then their heart removed. After this the body would be thrown from where they were sacrificed. The disposal of the body after sacrificing varied from feeding it to animals or to putting the heads on display. Removal of the heart was just of many methods of sacrificing; shot with arrows, burned, killing during a fight like the gladiators, to name a few. Many think that this constant sacrificing led to the fall of the Aztec way of life when the Spaniards came along.
       Lastly we have the Carthaginians, who resided in present day Tunisia and who allegedly sacrificed their children. Now, I use allegedly because in modern day cultures even the thought of sacrificing children is unthinkable, thus must try to prove that any think of the sort did no happen. There have been a lot of back and forth on the subject. Some saying that the mass burial of children was just that, burials, but in recent anthropological examination of the sacrifice of children, it was final that they did indeed sacrifice children. They felt they needed to when things went wrong in their lives (drought, famine), so they sacrificed the children to their gods, but when the children that were already sacrificed were weak and did not seem to make a difference in their present predicament, they would sacrifice the children of a well to do family. Once they did that, they were sure that a healthy baby from a rich family would be accepted by the gods.
       Nowadays it is almost unbelievable and unthinkable that we, humans, have committed human sacrifice. Even now, the thought of animal or human sacrifice is taboo. But when you stop to think about it, we still do practice animal sacrifice, we just justify it as food or sustenance for human life. Unless we face a catastrophic event where humans must sacrifice other humans for the good of the human race, it may become less of a taboo and more of a necessity. Let us think that possible, would it be possible that 7 billion plus humans could be sacrificed and/or eaten, by other humans, into extinction? That said, this is peeking into another taboo, cannibalism, but that is a blog for another day.
       Please feel free to leave me a comment either about this blog or on an anthropological subject you would like me to cover.
(Image below is an artists rendering of the body throwing after the sacrifice of the Aztecs)