Detecting grave sites from surface anomalies: A longitudinal study in an Australian woodland.

Forensic investigations of single and mass graves often use surface anomalies, including changes to soil and vegetation conditions, to identify potential grave locations. Though numerous resources describe surface anomalies in grave detection, few studies formally investigate the rate at which the surface anomalies return to a natural state; hence, the period the grave is detectable to observers. Understanding these processes can provide guidance as to when ground searches will be an effective strategy for locating graves. We studied three experimental graves and control plots in woodland at the Australian Facility for Taphonomic Experimental Research (Sydney, Australia) to monitor the rate at which surface anomalies change following disturbance. After three years, vegetation cover on all grave sites and control plots had steadily increased but remained substantially less than undisturbed surroundings. Soil anomalies (depressions and cracking) were more pronounced at larger grave sites versus the smaller grave and controls, with leaf litterfall rendering smaller graves difficult to detect beyond 20 months. Similar results were observed in two concurrent burial studies, except where accelerated revegetation appeared to be influenced by mummified remains. Extreme weather events such as heatwaves and heavy rainfall may prolong the detection window for grave sites by hindering vegetation establishment. Observation of grave-indicator vegetation, which exhibited abnormally strong growth 10 months after commencement, suggests that different surface anomalies may have different detection windows. Our findings are environment-specific, but the concepts are applicable globally.

A novel application of terrestrial LIDAR to characterize elevation change at human grave surfaces in support of narrowing down possible unmarked grave locations.

Unmarked graves are difficult to locate once the ground surface no longer shows visible evidence of disturbance, posing significant challenges to missing person investigations. This research evaluates the use of terrestrial LIDAR point data for measuring localized elevation change at human grave surfaces. Three differently sized human graves, one control-pit, and surrounding undisturbed ground, were scanned four times between February 2013 and November 2014 using a tripod-mounted terrestrial laser scanner. All the disturbed surfaces exhibited measurable and localized elevation change, allowing for separation of disturbed and undisturbed ground. This study is the first to quantify elevation changes to human graves over time and demonstrates that terrestrial LIDAR may contribute to multi-modal data collection approach to improve unmarked grave detection.

Detection of single graves by airborne hyperspectral imaging.

Airborne hyperspectral imaging (HSI) was assessed as a potential tool to locate single grave sites. While airborne HSI has shown to be useful to locate mass graves, it is expected the location of single graves would be an order of magnitude more difficult due to the smaller size and reduced mass of the targets. Two clearings were evaluated (through a blind test) as potential sites for containing at least one set of buried remains. At no time prior to submitting the locations of the potential burial sites from the HSI were the actual locations of the sites released or shared with anyone from the analysis team. The two HSI sensors onboard the aircraft span the range of 408-2524nm. A range of indicators that exploit the narrow spectral and spatial resolutions of the two complimentary HSI sensors onboard the aircraft were calculated. Based on the co-occurrence of anomalous pixels within the expected range of the indicators three potential areas conforming to our underlying assumptions of the expected spectral responses (and spatial area) were determined. After submission of the predicted burial locations it was revealed that two of the targets were located within GPS error (10m) of the true burial locations. Furthermore, due to the history of the TPOF site for burial work, investigation of the third target is being considered in the near future. The results clearly demonstrate promise for hyperspectral imaging to aid in the detection of buried remains, however further work is required before these results can justifiably be used in routine scenarios.