Forensic palynology revisited: Case studies from semi-arid Spain

This article presents a palynological analysis of samples obtained in three different locations in the semiarid southeast Spain. Sampling was carried out on four surfaces (directly from the soil, then from textile samples that had been in direct contact with the ground, another set collected from clothing using adhesive and the final from sediment accumulated on footwear) after a forensic simulation. This study can be compared to previous work carried out in the same region. All of the samples were polleniferous, the pollen spectra giving relevant information about the vegetation of each location. We confirm the potential utility of palynology in forensic studies in order to establish the source of a sample and to be able to link people or objects to a crime scene. We show that samples from the same location may produce different results, depending on the sampling method, although they will show common taxa that will serve to identify the place where they were found. Moreover, it is shown that the use of glass microscope slides with adhesive is an adequate method to retrieve pollen from clothing surfaces.