Table 1. The five decompositional stages defined in this study and their descriptions.
Decompositional stage | Description | Literature report |
(1) Fresh | From death until the first signs of bloating | [1], [49], [52], [54] |
Autolysis | ||
(2) Bloated | Putrefaction mechanism generates accumulation of breakdown gases causingbloating of the corpse. The first signs of the bloated stage appear in the abdomen.Then the whole body swells | [1], [52], [54], [56] |
Anaerobic fermentations | ||
(3) Active decay | Darkening of the skin | [1], [52], [54], [56] |
The skin is breaking up and the body began to deflate. Protein sources arebroken down into fatty acids and other decomposition products such as skatole,indole, cadaverine, putrescine | ||
(4) Advanced decay | Corpse dries and the remains are skin, cartilage, hair, bones and some fragmentsof flesh | [52], [54], [56] |
(5) Dry remains or skeletonisation | The only remains are bones and hair | [52], [54] |
Diagenesis |