Professor Tim Thompson

Professor of Applied Biological Anthropology University Alliance

  • Middlesbrough England

His area of expertise is in the decomposition of human remains after death - with interest in what happens when a skeleton or body is burnt.

Contact

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Areas of Expertise

Burnt Bodies
Skeletons
Forensics
Forensic Anthropology
Human Remains

Biography

Professor Tim Thompson is Professor of Applied Biological Anthropology in the School of Health and Life Sciences, Teesside University. His area of expertise is in the decomposition of human remains after death - with particular interest in what happens when a skeleton or body is burnt. He is involved in identifying people from burnt remains and has had major media interest in his work on identifying remains at the ancient city of Herculaneum in Italy (the scene of the volcanic eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD).

Tim has spent the last 20 years developing new methods to support the forensic and archaeological sciences through forensic anthropology. he has published more than 70 papers in peer-reviewed journals and books and his latest is Human Remains: Another Dimension – the application of imaging to the study of human remains. Other works include The Archaeology of Cremation: Burned Human Remains in Funerary Studies and Human Identity and Identification. He is senior editor for the Forensic Human Identification and is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Society of Forensic Sciences, the Royal Anthropological Institute, the Royal Society of Biology and is an Honorary Fellow of the Faculty of Forensic & Legal Medicine.

Media Mentions

Archaeologists find evidence of neurons in glassy brain of Vesuvius victim

Ars Technica  online

2020-10-05

According to Tim Thompson, a forensic anthropologist at Teesside University in the UK, brains don't typically survive for long after death. "It's one of the earliest things to decompose in a standard decompositional context," he told Ars. But it is not unprecedented.

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Scientists find preserved brain cells in ancient man crushed by volcano

Futurism  online

2020-10-05

Other scientists aren’t convinced with Petrone’s theory that the sudden, intense heat basically fried the man’s body and turned his brain to glass. Teesside University forensic anthropologist Tim Thompson, for example, suspects that a longer-lasting, lower-intensity heat killed the man, and told Ars that he’s frustrated Petrone’s team didn’t share the raw data.

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Preserved brain tissue found in victim of ancient vesuvius eruption, scientists say

Gizmodo  online

2020-10-02

Tim Thompson, a professor of applied biological anthropology at Teesside University in the UK, felt that the new paper, like some of Petrone’s previous work, didn’t contain enough information for “an external person to make a proper assessment of it,” he said during a video call.

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Multimedia Appearances

Social

Accomplishments

Short-listed (1 of 3) for the inaugural Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Enterprise Activity

2013

Winner ‘Highly Commended’ in the Knowledge Transfer Award in Blueprint Business Planning Competition grand final.

2010

Winner Ward Hadaway Science Award in Blueprint Business Planning Competition regional final

2010

Education

University of Sheffield

Ph.D.

Forensic Pathology and Archaeology

2003

University of Bradford

M.Sc.

Forensic Anthropology

1999

University of Sheffield

B.Sc.

Archaeological Science and Geography

1998

Affiliations

  • Member, American Academy of Forensic Science
  • Member, International Academy of Legal Medicine
  • Member, British Association for Biological Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology
  • Member, Association of National Teaching Fellows
  • Member, Council of Forensic Science Educators

Event Appearances

Hot Mess: Towards a bioarchaeology of cremation

The ‘Trial by Fire’ Conference (2019)  London, U.K.

Advancing Forensics: Current and future direction

Chartered Society of Forensic Sciences Annual Student Conference (2018)  University of Derby

Entangled: Methods for differentiating bodies and physical identities

The ‘Bodies of Evidence’ Art of Identification workshop (2016)  University of Urbana-Champaign

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Articles

Choose your own murder: Non-linear narratives enhance student understanding in forensic science education

Forensic Science International: Synergy

2020

Higher education teaching in the forensic sciences tends to follow a traditional format of lectures followed by practical laboratory sessions. Sometimes this approach is not possible or viewed as not innovative enough.

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A re-evaluation of manner of death following the Vesuvius eruption at the Roman town of Herculaneum

Teesside University

2019

Herculaneum is one of the most famous Roman settlements in the world. One of the details which remains unclear is the specific manner in which the victims died during the eruption. We address this issue here through the investigation of changes in bone apatite structure and collagen preservation using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) combined with collagen extraction.

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Determining the Effectiveness of Noncontact Three‐Dimensional Surface Scanning for the Assessment of Open Injuries

Journal of Forensic Sciences

2019

Noncontact three‐dimensional (3D) surface scanning methods are used within forensic medicine to record traumas and other related findings. A structured light scanning technique is one of these methods and the most suitable for the forensic field.

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