William M. Bass
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

William Marvin Bass III (born August 30, 1928) is an American
forensic anthropologist Forensic anthropology is the application of the anatomical science of anthropology and its various subfields, including forensic archaeology and forensic taphonomy, in a legal setting. A forensic anthropologist can assist in the identification o ...
, best known for his research on human
osteology Osteology () is the scientific study of bones, practised by osteologists. A subdiscipline of anatomy, anthropology, and paleontology, osteology is the detailed study of the structure of bones, skeletal elements, teeth, microbone morphology, funct ...
and
human decomposition Decomposition is the process in which the organs and complex molecules of animal and human bodies break down into simple organic matter over time. In vertebrates, five stages of decomposition are typically recognized: fresh, bloat, active decay, ...
. He has also assisted federal, local, and non-U.S. authorities in the identification of human remains. He taught at the
University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state, ...
in
Knoxville Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division and the state's ...
, and founded the
University of Tennessee Anthropological Research Facility The University of Tennessee Anthropological Research Facility, better known as the Body Farm and sometimes seen as the Forensic Anthropology Facility, was conceived in 1971 and established in 1972 by anthropologist William M. Bass as the first fa ...
, the first such facility in the world. The Facility is more popularly known as " The Body Farm", a name used by crime author
Patricia Cornwell Patricia Cornwell (born Patricia Carroll Daniels; June 9, 1956) is an American crime writer. She is known for her best-selling novels featuring medical examiner Kay Scarpetta, of which the first was inspired by a series of sensational murders in ...
in a novel 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 journalist
Jon Jefferson Jon Jefferson (born 13 November 1955) is a contemporary American author and television documentary maker. Jefferson has written ten novels in the ''Body Farm'' series under the pen name Jefferson Bass, in consultation with renowned forensic anthr ...
. 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'', and ''The Breaking Point''. Though currently retired from teaching, Bass still plays an active research role in the University's forensic anthropology program.


Biography

Bass was born in
Staunton, Virginia Staunton ( ) is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 25,750. In Virginia, independent cities a ...
to Marvin and Jenny Bass. His father was a manager of
gold mines Gold mining is the extraction of gold resources by mining. Historically, mining gold from alluvial deposits used manual separation processes, such as gold panning. However, with the expansion of gold mining to ores that are not on the surface, ...
and limestone quarries. His mother received a degree in
home economics Home economics, also called domestic science or family and consumer sciences, is a subject concerning human development, personal and family finances, consumer issues, housing and interior design, nutrition and food preparation, as well as texti ...
in 1925. Bass attended
Hampden-Sydney College Hampden Sydney is a census-designated place (CDP) in Prince Edward County, Virginia, United States. The population was 1,450 at the 2010 census. Hampden Sydney is the home of Hampden–Sydney College, a private all-male college that is the tenth- ...
before transferring his junior year to the
University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...
for his undergraduate degree in
psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...
, which he received in 1951, and was a scholar at the US Army Medical Research Laboratory from 1953 to 1954, where he studied
psychophysiology Psychophysiology (from Ancient Greek, Greek , ''psȳkhē'', "breath, life, soul"; , ''physis'', "nature, origin"; and , ''wiktionary:-logia, -logia'') is the branch of psychology that is concerned with the physiology, physiological bases of psych ...
. He received his master's from the
University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentu ...
in 1956. He completed his
Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...
in
anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavi ...
from the
University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...
in 1961. His research career began as an
archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...
, excavating Native American grave sites in the Midwestern United States during the latter 1950s and 1960s. He mentions in ''Death's Acre'' that 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 of
Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...
and
Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...
during 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 a
Confederate Confederacy or confederate may refer to: States or communities * Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities * Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...
soldier in
Franklin, Tennessee Franklin is a city in and county seat of Williamson County, Tennessee, United States. About south of Nashville, it is one of the principal cities of the Nashville metropolitan area and Middle Tennessee. As of 2020, its population was 83,454 ...
who had been killed at the
Battle of Nashville The Battle of Nashville was a two-day battle in the Franklin-Nashville Campaign that represented the end of large-scale fighting west of the coastal states in the American Civil War. It was fought at Nashville, Tennessee, on December 15–16, 1 ...
in 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 the
cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impuriti ...
coffin, 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 1983
Benton fireworks disaster The Benton fireworks disaster was an industrial disaster that occurred on May 27, 1983, on a farm near Benton, Tennessee. A powerful explosion at an unlicensed fireworks factory producing illegal fireworks killed eleven and injured one, revealin ...
, the Tri-State Crematory scandal, and the 2007 exhumation and autopsy of
The Big Bopper Jiles Perry "J.P." Richardson Jr. (October 24, 1930 – February 3, 1959), known as The Big Bopper, was an American singer, songwriter and disc jockey. His best-known compositions include "Chantilly Lace" and " White Lightning", the latter of wh ...
, 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.


Personal life

Bass has been married three times. He married his first wife, Carol Ann Owens, whom he met while doing research for the Army, in 1953. Owens died of colon cancer in 1993. His second marriage, in 1994, was to Annette Blackbourne, who died in 1997 from lung cancer. Later that year he married Carol Lee Hicks, who had been a friend of his since childhood. Bass has three sons, Charlie, William Marvin IV, and Jim. Bass is an
atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...
.


References


External links


Website for the writing team of Bass and Jefferson
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bass, William M. American atheists American anthropologists Anthropology educators Forensic anthropologists People from Knoxville, Tennessee University of Tennessee faculty University of Virginia alumni University of Kentucky alumni 1928 births Living people Scientists from Tennessee Scientists from Virginia 20th-century American scientists 21st-century American scientists People from Staunton, Virginia