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Taphonomic and ecologic information from bone weathering

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 April 2016

Anna K. Behrensmeyer
Anna K. Behrensmeyer*
Affiliation:
Peabody Museum, Yale University; New Haven, Connecticut 06520
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Abstract

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Bones of recent mammals in the Amboseli Basin, southern Kenya, exhibit distinctive weathering characteristics that can be related to the time since death and to the local conditions of temperature, humidity and soil chemistry. A categorization of weathering characteristics into six stages, recognizable on descriptive criteria, provides a basis for investigation of weathering rates and processes. The time necessary to achieve each successive weathering stage has been calibrated using known-age carcasses. Most bones decompose beyond recognition in 10 to 15 yr. Bones of animals under 100 kg and juveniles appear to weather more rapidly than bones of large animals or adults. Small-scale rather than widespread environmental factors seem to have greatest influence on weathering characteristics and rates. Bone weathering is potentially valuable as evidence for the period of time represented in recent or fossil bone assemblages, including those on archeological sites, and may also be an important tool in censusing populations of animals in modern ecosystems.

Type
Research Article
Information
Paleobiology , Volume 4 , Issue 2 , Spring 1978 , pp. 150 - 162
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

References

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