Bill Bass is pictured circa 1980. The noted forensic anthropologist and pioneer of the “Body Farm” delivers a free presentation at Pellissippi State Community College on Nov. 10.
The “Body Farm.” It is internationally known as one of a handful of research facilities devoted to the study of human decomposition. It’s right in Knoxville’s own backyard, and its founder is noted forensic anthropologist and author Bill Bass.
The Body Farm pioneer delivers a presentation that is free and open to the public on Nov. 10 at Pellissippi State Community College’s Pellissippi Campus in West Knoxville.
Bass, who established the University of Tennessee’s Anthropological Research Facility—the Body Farm—three decades ago, is one of the most famous Americans in his field. The 2.5-acre “laboratory” was the first of its kind.
It is the resting place of a varying number of human remains that have been left to decay in both natural and controlled environments, a training facility for professionals who use physical anthropology to resolve medical and criminal matters about the dead.
The author of more than 200 scientific publications, Bass is also co-author of several New York Times bestselling novels. He and Jon Jefferson, writing under the pen name of Jefferson Bass, have written six fictional books about a forensic scientist who solves murder cases. The latest, “The Bone Yard,” was released in early 2011.
Bass and Jefferson first collaborated in 2003 on the non-fiction work “Death’s Acre,” a critically acclaimed memoir in which Bass recounts the beginnings of the Body Farm and some of his more memorable forensic cases.
Bill Bass is pictured circa 2006.
The appearance by Bass at Pellissippi State is presented by the Student Life and Recreation Office and the Alumni Association.
The one-hour event is at 12:30 p.m. in the Clayton Performing Arts Center on the Pellissippi Campus, 10915 Hardin Valley Road. If needed, overflow seating will be available in Room 206 of the Alexander Building. Attendees in the overflow seating area will be able to view a live streaming broadcast of the presentation.
Though the event is free, donations will be accepted at the door by the Pellissippi State Foundation for the Alumni Scholarship Fund.
For additional information, call (865) 694-6400. To request accommodations for a disability, contact the executive director of Human Resources and Affirmative Action at (865) 694-6607 or humanresources@pstcc.edu.