Taphonomy

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Taphonomy is the study of the fate of the remains of organisms after they die. The term taphonomy, (from the Greek taphos meaning burial, and nomos meaning law), was introduced to palaeontology in 1940 by Russian scientist, Ivan Efremov, to describe the study of the transition of remains, parts, or products of organisms, from the biosphere, to the lithosphere, i.e. the creation of fossil assemblages, (e.g. see Shipman 1981 p.5-6, Greenwood 1991, Lyman 1994).

Taphonomists study such phenomena as biostratinomy, decomposition, diagenesis, and epibiont encrustation.

The motivation behind the study of taphonomy is to better understand biases present in the fossil record. Fossils are ubiquitous in sedimentary rocks, yet paleontologists cannot draw the most accurate conclusions about the lives and ecology of the fossilized organisms without knowing about the processes involved in their fossilization. For example, if a fossil assemblage contains more of one type of fossil than another, one can either infer that that organism was present in greater numbers, or that its remains are more resistant to decomposition.

Archaeologists study taphonomic processes in order to determine how plant and animal remains accumulate within archaeological sites. This is critical to determining whether these remains are associated with human activity. In addition, taphonomic processes may alter biological remains after they are deposited at a site. Some remains survive better than others over time, and can therefore bias the excavated collection.

Experimental taphonomy testing usually consists of exposing the remains of organisms to various altering processes, and then examining the effects of the exposure.

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References

Efremov, I. A. (1940), Taphonomy: a new branch of paleontology. Pan-American Geology 74:81-93.
Greenwood, D. R. (1991), The taphonomy of plant macrofossils. In, Donovan, S. K. (Ed.), The processes of fossilisation, pp.141-169. Belhaven Press.
Lyman, R. L. (1994), Vertebrate Taphonomy. Cambridge University Press.
Shipman, P. (1981), Life history of a fossil: An introduction to taphonomy and paleoecology. Harvard University Press.

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