NAME 2026 Poster P169

Toward a Taphonomy of Sentience: Collapse Dynamics During the Postmortem Interval

Alison McCrea

Human Remains Specialist, Research Scientist

University of Arizona — Bioarchaeology Laboratory, Tucson, AZ, USA

The Taphonomy of Sentience provides an empirical framework for analyzing collapse dynamics during the postmortem interval and characterizing the sequential loss of coordinated biological function after physiological regulation ceases. It operationalizes sentience as collapse-capable coherence across interacting biological scales, quantified by a Sentience Index (Ψ), and treats observable postmortem changes as measurable markers of progressive decoupling.

Research materials

Supporting the poster

Poster PDF

The final poster PDF will be available here following submission.

Forthcoming

Mathematical Specification

An expanded specification of the Sentience Index (Ψ) is forthcoming.

In preparation

References

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Coming soon

Contact

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