[vail2]

This gruesome question is research for a novel... can you tell me the chronology of decomposition of a newborn body shallowly buried in freezing/near freezing outdoor temperature? How long would the body remain intact for identification of a cause of death?

[fj]

That is hard to say, maybe you can try putting a fresh peace of meat in the refrigerator at those temperatures and see when it starts smelling bad.

[senator]

This gruesome question is research for a novel...can you tell me the chronology of decomposition of a newborn body shallowly buried in freezing/near freezing outdoor temperature? How long would the body remain intact for identification of a cause of death?

I hate to be a spoil sport, but there are a number of factors that will make this a much more complicated question than was intended.

Freezing is never a constant thing unless you are way up north and even then the temperature varies from day to day and hour to hour. There also can be freezing weather for a short period that does not allow for freezing below ground.

An area that has a hard freeze will preserve a body for a good long time (years) in a relative state of non or little degeneration which makes it easier for placing cause of death.

In cases of newborn death, the questions are always, born dead or alive? If born alive, what caused death. With newborns most are drowned, strangled, or smothered if it is not a natural death. In the case of a body that has remained in constantly frozen ground without any significant thawing, it will keep well and the medical examiner can usually determine the cause of death.

If the newborn is strangled, it matters not if you are left with a skeleton, all that is needed is the hyoid bone of the throat. In the strangulation of anyone, this bone is always broken.

Now to make this more interesting, there is always the stuff used to wrap a body. It does make a difference and can preserve a body longer even without freezing.

If you wish to have a good research book that can enlighten you on the complexity of the subject, get a copy of "Dead Men Do Tell Tales" (1994), William R. Maples (was one of the foremost forensic anthropologists in the country. Probably retired now). I just checked amazon.com and they sell it for $10.95. The link is: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/se...133175-6210326

I wish I could pinpoint this answer for you with the experience I had, but there are so many factors that simply saying frozen will not cut the mustard in the real world.