In-Situ Recovery
Definition
The documentation and removal of evidence from its original position before any surrounding material is shifted. Requires that position, orientation, and associations are recorded before removal.
- Requirement
- Document before removal
- Records
- Position, orientation, associations
- Applies to
- Buried remains and associated evidence
- Purpose
- Preserve spatial context
Common questions
Why does spatial documentation matter as much as recovering the remains?+
Body position, orientation, and the placement of associated items relative to the remains can indicate manner of death or whether the body was moved after burial, all of which are lost once items are disturbed.
What methods are used to record in-situ evidence before removal?+
Photography, scaled sketches, total-station or GPS mapping, and increasingly 3D scanning are used to fix every item's location precisely before excavation proceeds to the next layer.
Related terms
- Flotation
- Passing grave fill through water to separate organic material that floats (seeds, plant fragments, insect remains, charcoal) from heavier inorganic material that...
- Half-Sectioning
- Dividing the grave along its long axis and excavating one half as a section face before opening the other half. Provides a...
- Sequential Pedestal Method
- An excavation technique where the grave fill is removed in spits around the body, leaving the remains elevated on undisturbed matrix until...
- Taphonomy
- The systematic modification of bone by environmental processes after death, operating over the burial or exposure interval. Includes weathering, soil staining, sun...
- Wet Sieving
- The process of washing material through a mesh with water to separate and recover small fragments. Preferred for fire debris that has...