\"The Body Farm\" William M. Bass Signed Announcement Dated 1984 Todd Mueller COA For Sale

Up for sale\"The Body Farm\" William M. Bass Hand Signed Announcement Dated 1984.This item is authenticated By Todd Mueller Autographs and comes with their certificate of authenticity.

ES-7944E7013William Marvin Bass III(born August 30, 1928) is an Americanforensic anthropologist, best known for his research on humanosteologyandhuman decomposition. He has also assisted federal, local, and non-U.S. authorities in the identification of human remains. He taught at theUniversity of TennesseeinKnoxville, and founded theUniversity of Tennessee Anthropological Research Facility, the first such facility in the world. The Facility is more popularly known as \"The Body Farm\", a name used by crime authorPatricia Cornwellin anovel of the same name,which drew inspiration from Bass and his work. Bass has also described the body farm as \"Death\'s Acre\" – the title of the book on his life and career, co-written with journalistJon Jefferson. Jefferson and Bass, under the pen name \"Jefferson Bass\", have also written several fictional works: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, andThe Breaking Point. Though currently retired from teaching, Bass still plays an active research role in the University\'s forensic anthropology program. Bass was born inStaunton, Virginiato Marvin and Jenny Bass. His father was a manager ofgold minesand limestone quarries. His mother received a degree inhome economicsin 1925.Bass attendedHampden-Sydney Collegebefore transferring his junior year to theUniversity of Virginiafor his undergraduate degree inpsychology, which he received in 1951, and was a scholar at the US Army Medical Research Laboratory from 1953 to 1954, where he studiedpsychophysiology. He received his master\'s from theUniversity of Kentuckyin 1956. He completed hisPh.D.inanthropologyfrom theUniversity of Pennsylvaniain 1961. His research career began as anarchaeologist, excavatingNative Americangrave sites in the Midwestern United States during the latter 1950s and 1960s. He mentions inDeath\'s Acrethat this activity earned him the informal title \"Indian grave-robber number one\" from an Indian activist, though no clashes with Native Americans ever occurred.He worked briefly at the universities ofKansasandNebraskaduring this time. He was hired by the University of Tennessee in 1971 to head their anthropology department, which was in the process of being split from the history department at the time.Dr. Bass first got the idea for what would eventually become the body farm while he was at the University of Kansas in the 1960s, and was asked if it was possible to determine the time of death of a partially decomposed cow. He determined that additional research was need for this, and suggested that this could be accomplished by allowing a deceased cow to decompose in a field while studying the process.While this experiment was never conducted, Dr. Bass further realized that additional research on human decomposition was needed after he was summoned in December 1977 to examine what was initially assumed to be a recent murder victim that had been buried on top of the grave of aConfederatesoldier inFranklin, Tennesseewho had been killed at theBattle of Nashvillein 1864. Due to the fact that the body was relatively intact and still contained most of its flesh, he initially estimated that the body had been dead for less than a year, but examination of the victim\'s clothing determined that the body was that of the soldier buried in the grave. Grave robbers had punctured thecast ironcoffin, which was airtight and largely prevented decomposition, removed the body, and then reburied it on top of the coffin. He started the university\'s anthropological research facility in 1980, which was the first in the world.He established the university\'s Forensic Anthropology Center in 1987.Most of Bass\' research has been on osteology and human decomposition. Bass\' research, along with his graduate students, has made many advances in how to determine the cause and time of death of a person and the conditions in which death took place. His research has formed the basis of techniques used by medical examiners, forensic pathologists, homicide detectives, and other law enforcement personnel in postmortem investigations.Later, Bass began researching cremation.In addition to his research, Bass has also assisted law enforcement in forensic investigations. He has investigated multiple high-profile cases, including the 1983Benton fireworks disaster,theTri-State Crematory scandal,and the 2007 exhumation and autopsy ofThe Big Bopper, in which he determined the cause of death, which had not been confirmed initially. Bass is the third generation in his family to have an educational building named after him. The Dr. William M. Bass III Forensic Anthropology Building dedication ceremony was September 27, 2011, near the Body Farm.

---

---

---