Post-cremation taphonomy and artifact preservation

Contemporary commercial cremation is a reductive taphonomic process that represents one of the most extreme examples of postmortem human alteration of bone. The thorough reduction and fragmentation of cremated human remains often leaves little biological evidence of diagnostic value. Instead, non-osseous artifacts often provide the best evidence of the origin of the cremated remains, the identity of the decedent, and commingling of the remains of more than one individual. Once human remains have been cremated they are most commonly placed into a processor and reduced into small fragments and fine ash suitable for inurnment or scattering. The type of processor determines the size and utility of the particulates and artifacts available for analysis. The newest type of processors have changed the manner and degree of postmortem bone modification and altered the preservation of diagnostic bone fragments and cremation artifacts. This paper addresses the impact of the newest cremation procedures on forensic analysis of cremated remains.     

Is Temperature Exogenous? The Impact of Civil Conflict on the Instrumental Climate Record in Sub‐Saharan Africa

Research into the effects of climate on political and economic outcomes assumes that short‐term variation in weather is exogenous to the phenomena being studied. However, weather data are derived from stations operated by national governments, whose political capacity and stability affect the quality and continuity of coverage. We show that civil conflict risk in sub‐Saharan Africa is negatively correlated with the number and density of weather stations contributing to a country's temperature record. This effect is both cross‐sectional—countries with higher average conflict risk tend to have poorer coverage—and cross‐temporal—civil conflict leads to loss of weather stations. Poor coverage induces a small downward bias in one widely used temperature data set, due to its interpolation method, and increases measurement error, potentially attenuating estimates of the temperature–conflict relationship. Combining multiple observational data sets to reduce measurement error almost doubles the estimated effect of temperature anomalies on civil conflict risk.