When you buy through links on our site , we may earn an affiliate commission . Here ’s how it works .
Slashing pigs
Slashing pigs with sword does n’t sound like science . But that ’s exactly what scientists had military volunteer do — chop aside at a fuzz carcass with a Japanese samurai sword called a katana . [ understand more about the stabbing subject area ]
Hacking cases
existent murder cases barrack the subject , said leash author Penny McCardle , a advisor forensic anthropologist to the Newcastle Department of Forensic Medicine in Australia . The case involved victims slain by katanas . And the researchers want to reckon out what types of wounds both these samurai blade and machetes would leave behind .
Standing victims
The scientists experimented on manlike adolescent domestic pig carcase that they ’d purchased from butchers . They packed the carcase with Styrofoam packing peanut to keep the national tooth decay stable . Then , they hang them from from metal frames to simulate standing victims .
Samurai sword
To reckon at the related cut German mark , the researchers had volunteers wield a mill - made machete , a factory - made katana and a katana forged using traditional methods .
Machete science
The scientist include the machete in their study because they realized it is a pronto available dick throughout the world and often used in violent law-breaking ; even so , there is limited research on the ensue turn out marks made by the panga .
Factory-made weapons
The volunteers who used the factory - made weapons had no prior experience carving or hacking with those arm .
Swordsman
However , the individual who wield the traditional katana had 16 years of experience as a swordsman and performed expert slice cut .
Machete marks
By seeing the wound on the copper carcass , scientist could facilitate investigator calculate out what kinds of weapon were used in various execution lawsuit .
Chattering
After the volunteers whoop off at the carcass , the researchers examined the resulting tailor mark on the pig bed ’s rib , flat bones like the shoulder bone and farseeing bone , such as the limbs .
They found that matchet created a unique slash mark called " chattering , " or the breaking off of small chips of bone at the edges .
Katana cuts
The katana , on the other hand , left unparalleled sign on all three osseous tissue types — a tiny bit of curving by the bone out from the entry point of the cutting .
