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Burial of remains is an important factor when one attempts to establish the post-mortem interval as it reduces, and in extreme cases, excludes oviposition by Diptera species. This in turn leads to modification of the decomposition process. The aim of this study was to record decomposition patterns of buried remains using a pig model. The pattern of decomposition was evaluated at different intervals and recorded according to existing guidelines. In order to contribute to our knowledge on decomposition in different settings, a quantifiable approach was followed. Results indicated that early stages of decomposition occurred rapidly for buried remains within 7-33 days. Between 14 and 33 days, buried pigs displayed common features associated with the early to middle stages of decomposition, such as discoloration and bloating. From 33 to 90 days advanced decomposition manifested on the remains, and pigs then reached a stage of advanced decomposition where little change was observed in the next ±90-183 days after interment. Throughout this study, total body scores remained higher for surface remains. Overall, buried pigs followed a similar pattern of decomposition to those of surface remains, although at a much slower rate when compared with similar post-mortem intervals in surface remains. In this study, the decomposition patterns and rates of buried remains were mostly influenced by limited insect activity and adipocere formation which reduces the rate of decay in a conducive environment (i.e. burial in soil).

A controlled three-dimesional ground penetrating radar monitoring study over simulated clandestine graves was conducted near Pretoria, South Africa, in which the detectability of graves as a function of post-burial interval was assessed, as this is of particular interest to local forensic investigators. It was demonstrated that the site-specific environmental parameter (a clay-rich loamy soil with poor drainage) and heavy seasonal rainfall (as confirmed by ground-penetrating-radar-derived soil moisture estimates) drastically compromised the long-term grave detectability, especially when adopting a three-dimensional depth slice analysis approach. It is also seen that the disturbed burial zone is the major contributor to the total grave anomaly rather than the buried body due to the combination of environmental parameters and the absence of buried artefacts. This paper also advocates the combined use of different data representations (two-dimensional and three-dimensional) to increase the likelihood of detecting subtle grave anomalies. single operating frequency in the range of 100-1000 MHz, and the resulting depth of investigation is typically limited to the first few metres of the near-surface. In GPR, there is a trade-off between range and resolution: increasing the operating frequency implies a higher resolution, but at the cost of a decreasing range associated with the corresponding increase in attenuation; similarly, a lower operating frequency will enable a greater depth of investigation, but at reduced mapping accuracy.GPR studies that relate to grave detection can be classified as either of a heritage or a forensic nature. In heritage-related studies, the typical survey aim is to identify unmarked cemetery graves, for example, Fiedler et al. (2009), Hansen, Pringle and Goodwin (2014), and Barone et al. (2016). Forensic studies typically involve the somewhat more challenging task of searching for clandestine burials; for example, Pringle et al. (2008) advocated the use of a multi-technique approach to identify possible clandestine burials in an urban environment and using GPR as a follow-up tool for obtaining better resolution on selected anomalies; however, the challenges associated with detecting subtle clandestine burial anomalies using GPR in the noisy and heterogeneous ground conditions of urban environments were highlighted. Schultz (2008) studied the monitoring of pig cadaver burials in sandy soils and emphasised the difficulty in detecting anomalies after a few months