Forensic Medicine and Forensic Taphonomy

Abstract

Introduction: Taphonomy is a term that comes to be inserted into the study of transformative phenomena to designate the study of the transition of biological remains from death to fossilization. This article aims to elucidate the concept, scope and importance of this study for legal medicine. Material and method: This is an integrative review carried out in the period from August to September 2021, through searches in databases such as PubMed, SciELO and Google Academic. Descriptors were used: taphonomy, legal medicine and transformative phenomena. Results: Taphonomy is a study aimed at understanding the stages that human beings go through after their death, whether this phenomenon has a destructive transformation (autolysis, maceration and putrefaction) or conservative (mummification, calcification, saponification, freezing, corification and fossilization). Discussion: Destructive transformative phenomena are processes capable of accelerating the destruction of the body and all its composition, so the preservatives in corpses will be those that will delay the event of putrefaction, causing the usual characteristics of post-death to be modified in rhythm and time. In addition, they will be related to intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Conclusion: Death is not a moment, it is a gradual process until the vital cessation of vital functions of the individual or his brain death. Therefore, the cadaveric phenomena, which make up this study, define the alterations that the body undergoes during decomposition, being of extreme importance for legal medicine and criminal investigation.