A pioneer in forensic anthropology, Dr. Bill Bass created the world's first laboratory dedicated to the study of human decomposition—three acres on a hillside in Tennessee where human bodies are left to the elements. His research has revolutionized forensic science, but during a career that has spanned half a century, Bass and his work have ranged far beyond the gates of the "Body Farm." In this riveting book, the renowned bone sleuth explores the rise of modern forensic science and takes readers deep into the real world of crime scene investigation. Beyond the Body Farm is an extraordinary journey through some of the most fascinating investigations of Dr. Bass's career—and a remarkable look at the high-tech science used to crack the most perplexing cases. “There’s much to enjoy here...” - Kirkus Reviews “Readers who like to get dirt under their nails will gladly follow the UT forensic anthropology team.” - Publishers Weekly “Scientifically authoritative, as well as accessible to mainstream crime buffs...Some cases are heartbreaking; at least one is downright weird.” - BookPage “The real crimes and mysteries here are just as or more intriguing as any fictional crime drama.” - Knoxville News-Sentinel “Beyond the Body Farm offers a real-life understanding of forensic anthropology and the science behind it...” - Knoxville News-Sentinel “scientifically authoritative, as well as accessible to mainstream crime buffs...Some cases are heartbreaking; at least one is downright weird.” - BookPage A pioneer in forensic anthropology, Dr. Bill Bass created the world's first laboratory dedicated to the study of human decomposition—three acres on a hillside in Tennessee where human bodies are left to the elements. His research has revolutionized forensic science, but during a career that has spanned half a century, Bass and his work have ranged far beyond the gates of the "Body Farm." In this riveting book, the renowned bone sleuth explores the rise of modern forensic science and takes readers deep into the real world of crime scene investigation. Beyond the Body Farm is an extraordinary journey through some of the most fascinating investigations of Dr. Bass's career—and a remarkable look at the high-tech science used to crack the most perplexing cases. Dr. Bill Bass is a world-renowned forensic anthropologist, the founder of the University of Tennessee's "Body Farm," and the author of more than two hundred scientific publications. Jon Jefferson's work has appeared in the New York Times , Newsweek , USA Today , and Popular Science . Together, writing as "Jefferson Bass," they have coauthored the novels Carved in Bone , Flesh and Bone , and The Devil's Bones . Beyond the Body Farm A Legendary Bone Detective Explores Murders, Mysteries, and the Revolution in Forensic Science By Bill Bass HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. Copyright © 2008 Bill Bass All right reserved. ISBN: 9780060875282 Chapter One The golden bowl, the burning palace: applying modern science to ancient bones As fans of the television series CSI know, death scenes can capture a wealth of detail about what happens in the instant when human life is snuffed out—even, I can say with certainty, when that instant occurred nearly three thousand years ago. More than four decades ago and six thousand miles away, I had one of my most memorable experiences in applying the tools of archaeology and anthropology to the questions of forensic science. The death scene lay in the ancient hilltop citadel of Hasanlu, in northwestern Iran, where a fierce army attacked the massive fortress, breached its mighty walls, and brought down its palace and temple in a rain of blood and fire. Hundreds had died in the battle and the blaze, but I was focusing on three of the dead, who were unearthed in a particularly dramatic discovery in the ruins. Midway through the project, though, I began to fear that a fourth death might soon be involved: my own. As I lay doubled over, delirious for days on end, my circumstances may have been less heroic than those of the ancient warriors whose bones had drawn me here, but the setting—the way of life, the nearness of death, even the practice of medicine—had changed little in the twenty-eight centuries since the fortress fell. In the summer of 1964, at age thirty-five, I was an eager assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Kansas at Lawrence. Although the ink on my Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania had been dry for only three years, by that time I'd excavated more skeletons than almost any other anthropologist in America. Starting in 1957, the summer after I entered graduate school at Penn, I'd worked for the Smithsonian Institution, which was excavating numerous Native American village sites throughout the Missouri River Basin. The Army Corps of Engineers was building a string of dams along the Missouri; the river's waters were rising; and the Smithsonian was racing to unearth and pres