Earprints

Discuss, Discover, Learn, and Share. Feel free to share information.

Moderators: orrb, saw22

Post Reply
Ernie Hamm
Posts: 214
Joined: Sun Jan 22, 2006 10:24 am
Location: Fleming Island, Florida
Contact:

Earprints

Post by Ernie Hamm »

Anyone (USA) doing research/examinations in earprints? Looking for contact information.
Steve Everist
Site Admin
Posts: 551
Joined: Sun Jul 03, 2005 4:27 pm
Location: Bellevue, WA

Post by Steve Everist »

Ernie,

I'm sure you're aware of Cor van der Lugt's work in the Netherlands. Other than him, I don't know of any.
Steve E.
Ducky
Posts: 28
Joined: Sat Dec 24, 2005 9:04 am

Post by Ducky »

Al Iannarelli, IAI member#10930 wrote a book
http://www.amazon.com/Ear-Identificatio ... 0962317802
gerritvolckeryck
Posts: 51
Joined: Tue Apr 25, 2006 12:03 pm
Location: Brussels - Belgium

Re: Earprints

Post by gerritvolckeryck »

Ernie Hamm wrote:Anyone (USA) doing research/examinations in earprints? Looking for contact information.
Hi Ernie,

I believe the US has lost some interest in earprints. :roll:

A few years ago, the European Community funded the "FEarId-project" http://www.fearid.com/ . Although their website is far from up-to-date, you might find some contacts there.

One of the people working in this project was Lynn Meijerman. She doctorated on the subject :
Lynn Meijerman, Inter- and intra-individual variation in earprints. [Uitgeg. door Barge’s Anthropologica, Leiden. ISBN-10: 90-806456-9-9 ISBN-13: 978-90-806456-9-1]
http://www.physorg.com/printnews.php?newsid=11177

Guy Rutty and Ali Abbas from Leicester University are also known to do some research on the topic. http://www.le.ac.uk/cm/fp/aa.pdf

Hope this helps.

Gerrit
Ernie Hamm
Posts: 214
Joined: Sun Jan 22, 2006 10:24 am
Location: Fleming Island, Florida
Contact:

Post by Ernie Hamm »

Thanks to those that responded to the forum and off-line.

Gerrit, I believe you are right about the interest (or lack there of) as my inquiry has not produced any takers. Next question: Anyone out there (US) interested in information on earprints? I mention "US" because the European side has it adequately covered with FEARID and their forensic practitioners.

My initial request was because of a local inquiry about this evidence that was found at a crime scene and I was contacted because of my involvement in a legal proceeding on earprints some 10 years ago. I am no longer involved in 'causes' and was looking for current examiners.

I am now wondering if there is anyone interested in material gathered those many years ago?
John Vanderkolk
Posts: 73
Joined: Tue Feb 28, 2006 7:07 am
Location: Washington, DC

Post by John Vanderkolk »

Hello Ernie,

I am still active and believe in uniqueness. You have shared your knowldedge and research with me before and I appreciate all that you share. I would be happy to share more.

As you know, If the unknown and known prints are clear enough and have enough detail of the source, and the source is persistent enough, the source can be determined; ear, elbow, skin creases, animal muzzles, shoes, tires, guns, screwdrivers. With ears being part of nature, their patterns and textures must be unique, as nature's patterns are unique. Ears are persistent enough. Either we believe in natural patterns being unique, or we don't. I do.

John Vanderkolk
George Reis
Posts: 147
Joined: Wed Jul 27, 2005 1:00 pm
Location: Orange County, CA - USA
Contact:

Post by George Reis »

I am interested in any information you have dug up Ernie - as well as any other information anyone has - my interest is more in ear identification than in ear print identification. I did manage to contact Alfred Iannerelli, and he seemed willing to share information - but I want to gather more information before bothering him with basic questions. Anyone have any texts that they'd like to sell? Drop me a note at reis@imagingforensics.com.

George
I can resist anything except temptation - Oscar Wilde
gerritvolckeryck
Posts: 51
Joined: Tue Apr 25, 2006 12:03 pm
Location: Brussels - Belgium

Post by gerritvolckeryck »

George,

You might want to read Bertillon's Signaletic instructions. It's more than a century old, but it makes you look at ears differently. Almost all of the early publications simply copy the Bertillon system.
Iannarelli's book describes a different way to classify ear photographs and recently there has been work done by several people (Van der Lugt, Rutty, Dewinne, ...). You should also be aware of the criticism on the method (Champod, Moenssens, ...)

If you like I can send you a literature list on ears (and earprints) and put you into contact with our DVI-team.

just yell!

All the best,

Gerrit
George Reis
Posts: 147
Joined: Wed Jul 27, 2005 1:00 pm
Location: Orange County, CA - USA
Contact:

Post by George Reis »

Thanks Gerrit - Between you, Ernie and Al Iannarelli, I am getting a bunch of great information!

My application is going to be mostly for suspect elimination from security videos. I can tell that a slight modification on Iannarelli's system will probably work well - but I still have a lot of research to do. I managed to find a couple of good resources on Google books, and will post a separate thread on that.

Thanks again for the help!!

George
I can resist anything except temptation - Oscar Wilde
Post Reply