An Australian scientist has proved that the bodies of humans move around significantly for more than a year after death. These findings could have implications for detectives and pathologists around the world.

 

Alyson Wilson studied and photographed the movements of a corpse over 17-months. Then she told AFP on Friday that she found humans don’t exactly rest in peace.

 

In one case study, arms that began held close to the body ended up flung out to the side.

 

“We think the movements relate to the process of decomposition, as the body mummifies and the ligaments dry out,” she said.

 

To carry out her unusual form of people watching, Wilson took the three-hour flight from Cairns to Sydney every month to check on the progress of a cadaver.

 

Her subject was one of the seventy bodies stored at the Southern Hemisphere’s only “body farm”. It sits at a secret bushland location on the outskirts of Australia’s largest city.

 

Officially known as the Australian Facility for Taphonomic Experimental Research (AFTER), the farm carries out pioneering research into post-mortem movement.

 

 

Wilson and her colleagues tried to improve a commonly used system for estimating the time of death using time-lapse cameras. In the process, they found that human bodies actually move around significantly.

 

She recently published her findings in the journal “Forensic Science International: Synergy”.

 

The police could use a better understanding of these movements and the rate of decomposition to estimate time of death more accurately.

 

Meanwhile, she hopes the knowledge could narrow down the number of missing persons linked to an unidentified corpse. A better understanding of post mortem movement could also help to reduce the incorrect cause of death or misinterpretation of a crime scene.

 

“They’ll map a crime scene, they’ll map the victim’s body position, they’ll map any physical evidence found. And they can understand the cause of death.”

 

The CQ University criminology graduate also says she started her unique project after a trip to Mexico to help classify Mayan-era skeletal remains.

 

She also said:

“I was fascinated with death from a child and was always interested in how the body breaks down after death. I guess that comes about from being raised on a farm and seeing livestock die and watching that process.

 

“Once I observed a movement in a previous study, I started researching and couldn’t find anywhere in the world that looks at quantifying the movement. So I thought OK, I’m going to do this.”