I took this to be that they want to see if anything sank into the ground below the skeleton. But I could be completely wrong! Thinking out loud.
Nope. You're correct. <bbm>
Has the body been moved after death?
After death, a succession of fungi, bacteria and animals will colonize the dead body. The substrate on which the body is lying will also change over time. Leakage of fluids from the dead body will lead to the disappearance of certain insects, and other insects will increase as the time goes.
A forensic entomologist can then look for how long the body has been there by looking at the fauna at the body, and also estimate the time the body has been lying there by sampling soil insects underneath the dead body. If there is a difference in the estimates, and the analysis of the soil suggests a short PMI, and the analysis of the body fauna suggests a longer PMI, one can suspect that the body has been moved. One can also see that a body has been lying at a particular place long time after the body has been removed, both by botanical means, and by analysis of the soil fauna.
http://www.cienciaforense.com/pages/entomology/overview.htm
[...]
Soils are often divided into naturally-occurring stratigraphic layers, also known as strata, distinguished by their colour, texture, grain size, and components. The uppermost layer of soil, known as the topsoil, often contains a larger amount of organic matter, giving it a darker appearance compared to the lower subsoils. During an archaeological excavation, a single strata is removed at a time, ensuring that evidence from different levels are not mixed. The general rule would state that objects within the same strata are of the same relative age, therefore combining artefacts found at different levels could compromise the establishing of a timeline. By studying these stratigraphic layers closely, it may be possible to determine if a site has been disturbed, such as if an older layer has been mixed with a more recent layer. A number of occurrences can result in these layers being mixed, including animal activities, uprooted vegetation, campfires and, most importantly, burials.
http://forensicsciencecentral.co.uk/archaeology.shtml
[...]
Interestingly, microbial activity and biomass were observed to be higher in the control soil, this was ascribed to the inert character of adipocere. Indeed, under near anoxic to anoxic conditions degraded adipose tissue may exist indefinitely as adipocere [26–29] requiring the presence of grampositive bacteria and oxygen for further degradation and eventual mineralization (complete conversion of organic matter to simple substrates such as H2O, CO2, NO3 − etc.) to occur [30].
This study was instigated to assess soils suspected of having comprised a temporary grave being inspected as part of a missing persons investigation. White particulate matter, intimately mixed with some of the soil, had been morphologically identified as adipocere and mtDNA analysis conducted on a sample of the particulate matter had established a maternal link to a relative of the missing person (Metropolitan Police Service, personal communication).
http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0095107
Ammonett Branch, a tributary of the Hardware River, flows under Plank Road less than two miles from where it crosses the Old Lynchburg Road property where human remains were found on Saturday, October 18. Photo: Graelyn Brashear
