The science behind forensics

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"Forensic science is just recent archaeology", says Allan Jamieson, Director of the Forensic Institute, Edinburgh, as he explains how the same science can solve recent crimes and shed light on the past.

Otzi died a long time ago – around 3,000BC. Forensic science has made contributions to more recent cases of some historical interest. Some have claimed scientific support for a new theory of who killed Rasputin. Apparently, from photographs of the wounds and ‘new forensic techniques’, it is thought that he was killed by three different guns. Like so many crime investigations, this one is compromised by the lack of clear documentation and recovery of evidence at the time. The recovery of the bullets, and possibly gunshot residue, would have provided an unequivocal answer to the question of the number of firearms. The ‘evidence’ has generated heated, if not informed, debate.

Science has helped, and continues to help, the historian. Assisting in answering questions about who, what, how, when, and where, perhaps leaving to the historian the vexed question of why? Geology, mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, medicine, and the rest, combine to provide a powerful arsenal of today’s expertise to provide answers to our past.

For the future, there is much that remains to be discovered, not only in the development of new techniques in the physical and biological analysis of old material, but in the seemingly unending lists of new finds of tombs, artefacts, and samples created by history and now, hopefully, understood because of our scientific curiosity today. Forensic or not, it is fascinating science that takes us to different times and places.

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Content last updated: 10/01/2006

About our expert

Allan Jamieson is Director of the Forensic Institute, Edinburgh. Along with many university appointments he's also an examiner at Kings College, London (Forensic Science) and Hendon Police College (Crime scene examination and fingerprints). He's currently co-editor in chief of the Encylopedia of Forensic Sciences and is also a judge on the Crime Writers' Association Golden Dagger Awards for non-fiction. Allan is also a member on various boards relating to forensic science and a keynote speaker at forensic science conferences.