Comparative Fingerprint Evidence

This is one that may seem far out there. Perhaps it could be considered a variety of above-ground archaeology. In framed houses, however, assembly of the frame inevitably produces surfaces no longer accessible once the members are pinned or nailed into place. On such surfaces, the workmen who completed the framing may have left fingerprints ever afterward concealed. If fingerprint evidence could be routinely sought on such surfaces during repair or dismantling projects, it could yield useful comparative information that might one day produce matches to similar prints lifted from other buildings. Such matches, by themselves, would only permit knowledge that one unnamed individual on the crew of building “A” (let’s call it) also worked on Building “B.” Such matches, could, however, also yield information about the geographical movement of construction workers, and perhaps how some construction practices were spread from hearth areas into hinterlands. By keeping careful record of precisely where each fingerprint was found, one might determine the trades that the laborer practiced, which might facilitate identification of individual’s names. Circumstantial evidence could amplify what might be learned from the fingerprint evidence.

One place in framed houses that might be practical to search could be in the roofing assembly. If an old house still retains its original roof shingles—even if beneath later roofing layers—it will also retain its original furring strips. If in a subsequent re-roofing the furring strips and the original shingles must be removed, there could be many opportunities to seek fingerprints (hand prints, even) on the furring strips before the source of the evidence is carried away in the dumpster. Fingerprints might also have survived on the back sides of paneling or on oak pins that locked framing timbers together. Sometimes the uppermost course of a brick wall, just below the roof plate, remained unmortared. Prints might remain in the space covered by the plate. Brickwork provides enhanced opportunities to seek such prints since each brick needed to be individually placed by the bricklayer. Another place where fingerprints might remain could be in unpainted attic plaster.