Dr. William Bass was an American anthropologist and a famous researcher in the field of human osteology and human decomposition. 

He is also considered as the creator of Body Farm  The title Body Farm was used by a crime novel author Patricia Cornwell which inspired Bass to work further in this area. He has described the Body Farm as a "Death Acre".

It was the title of the book co-written by journalist Jon Jefferson on the life and career of Dr. William Bass.

Bass has often referred to the body farm as "Death's Acre," the title of the book he co-wrote with writer Jon Jefferson about his life and profession. Carved in Bone, Flesh and Bone, The Devil's Bones, Bones of Betrayal, The Bone Thief, The Bone Yard, The Inquisitor's Key, Cut To the Bone, and The Breaking Point are among the fictitious works created by Jefferson and Bass under the pen name "Jefferson Bass."

Despite his retirement from teaching, Bass remains active in the University's forensic anthropology program as a researcher.

He was much interested in knowing about anthropology, so he went on to learn from Clifford Evans.

Bass is widely foremost expert in the field of anthropology which was used as physical anthropology to resolve the medical and criminal cases concerning the dead. A body farm is his colloquial name as the Anthropology Research Facility in 1981.

This is the world’s first laboratory for decomposition research. The center also curates the country’s largest collection of “Contemporary of human skeletons”.

Dr. Bass as of diplomatic in the American Board of Forensic Anthropology and he was honored as National Professor of the year 1986. Bass retired in 1999 from the University of Tennessee Anthropology Building in 2011 with his namesake of an academic building.

Pioneer of Body Farm

While completing his doctoral degree, he worked during the summers for the Smithsonian Institute excavating and analyzing skeletal remains from Plains Indian's sites.

This resulted in his dissertation entitled “Variation in the Physical Types of the Prehistoric Plains Indians”. In 1977 time of death estimate in a widely publicized case made Bass determined to develop research and expertise that would help all those who are investigated deaths.

In civil war grave investigators in that case initially believed that the murder suspected was interrupted trying to hide the human’s body.

They remarked on the amount of decomposition that had become evident since their visits, such as the sloughed skin and distended midsection.

The insects which feasted upon the decommissioned man.

Before the Body Farm was established, information on human decay was astonishingly inadequate, leaving criminal investigators poorly equipped for determining abandoned bodies’ time of death.

On one occasion, Dr. Bass was asked to estimate the post-mortem interval of some human remains, and conventional methods indicated approximately one year given the moist flesh still clinging to the man’s bones.

Figure 1 -  Body Farm Building

 Figure 2 - A body sits underneath a cage at the Texas State Body Farm.

A body farm is a research facility that allows researchers to study decomposition in a variety of conditions.

These forensic scientists and anthropologists are trying to understand more about how the human body breaks down after death so that they can use this information to do things like help solve homicides and even investigate genocides — any situation where we seek to know things like how, when, and where a person died.

When a human victim is found within twenty-four hours, the time of death can generally be determined by checking the potassium level in the gel of the eyes, or by taking a temperature reading.

Beyond that point, it is up to forensic anthropologists to examine the body and its bug collection.

And in addition to helping researchers determine the specifics of the very decomposition process described above, body farms have allowed scientists to learn several things that are both fascinating and useful in police investigations.

For example, researchers have developed better time-of-death estimates based on gases being emitted from the body, which are released in a particular pattern over time.

Body Farm researchers have discovered that such skin can be soaked in warm water to restore its flexibility, and placed over a researcher’s hand for fingerprint identification.

The rigidity of rigor mortis has subsided, and the rapidly reproducing anaerobic bacteria have expelled enough gas that the skin takes on a green tinge.

The sickly-sweet smell of decay begins to saturate the air as bacterial by-products such as putrescene and cadaverine become concentrated, and the abdomen, groin, and face begin to show noticeable swelling.

Maggot-hunting beetles and wasps may join the fray, adding another dimension of mortality; as well as another measurable milestone for the entomologists. According to his research Bass estimated the man had been dead for a few months.

Finally, Bass is famous for their collaboration with writer and documentary filmmaker Jon Jefferson.

National Geographic about the Body Farm, the duo has written two nonfiction books and 12 bestselling fiction novels under the name Jefferson Bass. Bass described the Body Farm as ‘Death Acre’ (The title of the body on his life and career, co-written with Journalist Jon Jefferson)

Reference

1. https://www.oxfordbibliographics.com

2. https://www.lib.utk.edu

3. https://bonezones.com

4. https://allthatsinteresting.com/body-farms

5. Book name- THE REMAINS OF DOCTOR BASS by ALAN BELLOWS

Written by: Revathy Lavanya