The Taphonomic and Archaeothanatological Potentials of Diagenetic Alterations of Archaeological Bone

Abstract

Bone is a dynamic substrate in life ( Lanyon and Rubin, 1984 ), after death ( Hedges, 2002 ; Kendall et al ., 2018 ) and even after fossilisation ( Saitta et al ., 2018 ). After an organism dies, the bone is transformed by a myriad of physical, chemical and biological processes ( Hedges, 2002 ; Madgwick and Mulville, 2012 ; Madgwick, 2014 ; Villagran et al ., 2017 ; Kendall et al ., 2018 ). These transformations may take place during the decomposition of the body itself ( Child, 1995 ; Bell, Skinner and Jones, 1996 ; White and Booth, 2014 ; Delannoy et al ., 2018 ), as a result of socio-cultural practices which interfere with processes of decomposition ( Jans et al ., 2004 ; Nielsen-Marsh et al ., 2007 ; Madgwick, 2010 ; White and Booth, 2014 ) or transform the bone indelibly (e.g. cremation; Hanson and Cain, 2007 ; Lebon, et al ., 2010 ; Gonçalves, Thompson and Cunha, 2011 ; Squires et al ., 581 2011 ), as well as longer-term interactions between the bone and its depositional environment ( Nielsen-Marsh and Hedges, 2000 ; Hedges, 2002 ; Reiche et al ., 2003 ; Smith et al ., 2007 ; Turner-Walker and Jans, 2008 ; Turner-Walker and Peacock, 2008 ). Strictly speaking, bone diagenesis refers to post-sedimentary taphonomic processes resulting in bone fossilisation or destruction. However, certain pre-sedimentary alterations of bone (i.e. heating) are often referred to as diagenetic, and the extent to which other transformations of bone defined as diagenetic occur pre- or post-deposition is poorly defined; therefore for convenience, all such physico-chemical changes described here are referred to a as diagenetic. Each of these processes transforms the microstructural and chemical properties of a bone in characteristic ways; therefore, ancient bone maintains an imprint of the diagenetic events to which it has been exposed, providing novel taphonomic information from bodies and bones and potential information about funerary practices.

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