Bone degradation is a complex process that varies significantly and is influenced by a wide range of factors, it is not well understood, which can make postmortem identification (PMI) difficult (Christofidis, 2021). The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of soil conditions on sus scrofa rib bones to further understand bone degradation and the extent to which soil influences both degradation and preservation. This was done through a process of monitoring changes in macroscopic factors such as texture, colour, and bone mass weekly on sus scrofa ribs. A total of 30 bones were de-fleshed, examined, weighed, and measured to be placed in one of twelve environments for 8 weeks. These environments differed in pH and environmental temperature, three had no soil to act as a control. Statistical analysis showed that there was a significant difference between the bone mass loss of the outside neutral and outside alkali compared to the outside control, as well as between the fridge alkali and fridge control. However, for the remaining samples compared to their to their respective controls as well as statistical analysis between all acidic, neutral and alkali conditions, there proved to be no significant difference between the average bone mass loss. The results showed differences from the relevant literature in that the conditions that were predicted to show faster rates of degradation instead showed slower rates, and the acidic conditions had no significant effect on bone mass (Nielsen-Marsh et al., 2007; López-Costas et al., 2016; Gordon and Buikstra 1981; Nicholson, 1996). A significant difference was observed between all temperature conditions, with the incubator samples showing the largest overall average mass loss. However, during the experiment an increase in the soil pH was observed, this is in agreement with other studies (Rodriguez III and Bass, 1985; Reed Jr, 1958). An attempt was made to cut the bones to observe differences inside the bone, however due to the small nature of sus scrofa ribs the slices of bone remained too thick in order to observe visible differences in the internal structure.
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