ABSTRACT
Decomposition is a dynamic and continuous process through which organic material is broken down into its constituent elements. While a foundational understanding of decomposition is critical to the study of ecosystem dynamics, including nutrient cycling, it is also important to medicolegal death investigations and questions related to death scene reconstruction, postmortem event reconstruction, postmortem interval (PMI) estimation, trauma analysis, burial location, and cause/manner of death. It is from this forensic context that this chapter reviews the basics of terrestrial human and other vertebrate soft tissue decomposition from death to skeletonization, including the intrinsic and extrinsic factors that increase or decrease the rate of decomposition and/or alter the trajectory of decomposition events. In addition, this chapter reviews some of the most widely used PMI estimation methods in the context of forensic anthropology (e.g., total body scores and percentage mass loss) and highlights recent developments in biomolecular and interdisciplinary PMI estimation methods (e.g., microbiome sciences, proteomics, lipidomics, etc.).
