Talk: Murder, mayhem and misdemeanour: the application of archaeology to the recently deceased.

by Dr Jen Miller, UHI Archaeology

Because of the nature of the subject this talk will NOT be recorded.

Police forces UK wide have come a long way forensically over the past three decades.  As forensic science has advanced, so has appreciation of the value of forensic archaeology in the investigation of complex cases involving suspicious death. Standard techniques used by archaeologists everywhere in search, excavation and artefact recovery can be extrapolated to modern crime scene analysis when coupled with a sound understanding of chain of evidence and legal principles.  Through a series of high-profile case studies, this presentation aims to demonstrate how a ‘degree in digging holes’, together with a solid understanding of legal requirements can help find a grave or exclude areas of suspicion. It can provide informed comment on how a body was concealed, what tools were used, and interpret sequence of events and timings of death. Crucially, archaeological techniques supports jury understanding of complex events, demonstrating the rigour applied to the investigation and thus helping to support criminal justice.

Biography

Jennifer gained her PhD at Glasgow University in 1997, with her first forensic casework undertaken in 1995 and there followed regular  UK- wide casework. A combination of search, recovery, interpretation and stomach contents work has been undertaken. She  was an environmental specialist for GUARD, then Environmental & Forensic Projects Manager (also GUARD) until 2009, conducting  forensic casework throughout.

She  set up and managed the environmental and forensic archaeology lab for York Archaeological Trust YAT  2010-2016, involving management of archaeological projects and undertaking forensic casework UK- wide.  In 2016 she moved to  Nottingham Trent University  where she set up and ran  the MSc Forensic Science degree, which was  accredited by the Chartered Society for Forensic Sciences. She won the Chancellor’s Award for Professional Practice in 2018 and was promoted to Associate Professor. She became Curriculum Lead for 4 forensic science degrees in 2020.

She has  undertaken well over 500 high profile murder and/or unexplained death cases (and others) in her 30 years career and has given evidence in the Scottish High Courts and Crown Courts across the UK on countless occasions, including  at the Old Bailey.  Having given input about Forensic Archaeology to every Crime Scene Manager trained in Scotland at Tulliallan Police College between 1998-2018, she regularly gave input to Senior Investigating Officer conferences.

In 2022 she joined UHI and is currently Programme lead for MLitt Archaeological Studies, teaching students at all levels. She is also a Visiting Professor at NTU. She has been the academic chair for the CIfA Forensic Archaeology Expert Panel since 2015 , and has  just completed the update of the Standards and guidance for forensic archaeology for CIfA, along with practice chair Alastair Vannan.