If the circumstances of a person’s death are not straightforward, medical authorities will perform an autopsy or post-mortem examination, in order to determine the cause of death. The autopsy will tell them exactly how the victim died – from which disease, or whether an accident or murder was involved. In medical and criminal investigations, a post-mortem is now a routine procedure, and is usually carried out quite soon after death, as decomposition of the body quickly destroys important clues.

In recent years, the spectrum of such investigations has increase, particularly after new methods were developed during the 1980s by research team led by an American professor, James Starrs. The new techniques mean that the bones of a corpse can be analysed as much as 20, 50, 100 or even 200 years after death. Scientists use high-technology apparatus and techniques, and rely on the latest scientific research, especially in the fields of forensic medicine, chemistry and biogenetics. This range of information enables them, for example, to detect even a tiny trace of poison, from the called the genetic ‘fingerprint’ of a deceased person. In this way, Starrs and his team can take bones that have been in the ground for many years and accurately determine the cause the death.

Scientific detective work

The work of James Starrs and his team has implications for many medical and legal professionals. By examining the bones of deceased soldiers, historians can possibly gain insight into the way a particular battle was fought. More urgently, the new technique offer UN investigators the chance to shed light on the ghastly massacres of Tutsis in Rwanda in 1994 and the so-called ethnic cleansing operations carried out in Bosnia and other parts of the former Yugoslavia during the mid-1990, during which so many innocent civilians were killed. In the United States. Starrs’s expertise is sought after by city and state criminal investigation units hoping to close many of the unsolved murder cases on their files. MIchael Barden, a director of the New York State Police, comments that ‘these methods enable an active criminal investigation even after many years have passed’.

The material studied by Starrs, and by many other scientists who are active in this field, is formed in cemeteries and mass graves. There are some critics who think that corpses should not be exhumed for analysis. They feel that the dead should not be disturbed to satisfy the curiosity of scientists. Most people, however, support the researchers’ activities, regarding them as a way of getting at the truth. For this reason, Starrs and his colleagues are often given permission to exhume and analyse human skeletons.

We should not expect miracles to come from Starr’s work. While the new scientific methods do indeed permit the dead to ’speak’, not every remnant of bone reveals its secrets. There are some mysterious deaths that will remain unsolved.