Delamination
Definition
The separation of the outer table of bone from the underlying diploe or cortex in curved sheets during green-bone burning; produced by rapid steam generation under the periosteum and differential thermal contraction of the cortical layers.
- Site
- Outer bone table separating from diploe/cortex
- Cause
- Rapid steam generation under the periosteum
- Contributing factor
- Differential thermal contraction of cortical layers
- Context
- Green-bone (fleshed) burning
Common questions
How does delamination help distinguish green-bone from dry-bone burning?+
It results from steam trapped under still-present soft tissue and periosteum, so its presence points to bone that was fleshed at the time of burning rather than already dry or defleshed.
Why does delamination matter for interpreting fire scene remains?+
Recognising it helps analysts reconstruct whether a body was burned shortly after death, which bears on cause and manner of death and on whether the fire was the mechanism or a later attempt at disposal.
Related terms
- Calcined Bone
- Bone heated to above approximately 700°C, resulting in complete combustion of the organic component (collagen), leaving only mineral hydroxyapatite; characterised by white...
- Crazing
- A mosaic network of intersecting surface fissures on burned bone, produced by differential contraction of the outer bone surface relative to the...
- Dry Bone Fracture Pattern
- Straight, longitudinal fractures running parallel to the long axis of a bone, following the Haversian structural directions; characteristic of bone burned after...
- Green Bone Fracture Pattern
- Curved transverse fractures running approximately perpendicular to the long axis of a bone, with a stepped or warped cross-sectional profile; characteristic of...
- Hydroxyapatite (HA)
- The calcium phosphate mineral [Ca10(PO4)6(OH)2] that comprises approximately 70 per cent of bone mass; survives fire at all temperature stages, sintering and...
- NFPA 921
- US National Fire Protection Association Guide for Fire and Explosion Investigations. The internationally accepted methodology Indian fire investigators and SFSL fire divisions...
- Pope-Smith Framework
- The 2004 analytical framework distinguishing perimortem from postmortem fire exposure using fracture geometry, cross-section colour uniformity, periosteal behaviour, and anatomical integrity; explicitly...
- Shipman Colour Stages
- The five-stage colour classification (yellow-tan, brown, black, blue-grey, white) published by Patricia Shipman and colleagues in 1984, corresponding approximately to temperature ranges...
- ZooMS (Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry)
- A peptide mass fingerprinting method using collagen fragment masses to identify bone to species level; applicable to burned bone samples where conventional...