Burned Human Remains & X-Rite… A Perfect Match?

Posted on | August 24, 2011 | No Comments

The Analysis of Burned Human Remains by Christopher W. Schmidt & Steve A. Symes, is a reference book for studying burned human remains for forensics science, and for archeological study. Now why would X-Rite be interested in this book?

Well as we found out, color plays an important role in this field of study. Color is used to compare, reference, and classify samples. Even more interesting is how an X-Rite spectrophotometer and software normally used for paint matching, was used to analyze burned bone fragments for this book.

A CA22 spectrophotometer from X-Rite, which was used to measure color of burned bone fragments. Using the CA22, along with ColorDesigner Software (which is normally used for as a color matching software for hardware/paint stores) over 3,000 bone fragments were measured and a corresponding CIELAB color was obtained for each sample. The Munsell Conversion Program from Wallkill Color, was used to convert the measured CIELAB results into Munsell, so that Munsell color standards could be used to identify the samples. Based on the measurements taken, the researchers were able to classify the bone samples, and even used statistical analysis to help compare, & identify previously unidentified bone fragment samples. It’s quite fascinating to see how our instruments and software are used in a way we never imagined. This is system is being used to measure burned bones, what other applications can our technology be used in? Have you come across any X-Rite instruments being used atypically?

If you want to learn more about the book or how they conducted their color measurements and their results, the book can be purchased or visit the Google Books entry on The Burned Analysis of Human Remains for a multi-page excerpt on how they used our equipment. The discussion involving X-Rite begins on page 115 and go on until page 126.

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