Vertebrate Taphonomy
Vertebrate Taphonomy
£66.00
GBPTaphonomy studies the transition of organic matter from the biosphere into the geological record. It is particularly relevant to zooarchaeologists and paleobiologists, who analyse organic remains in the archaeological record in an attempt to reconstruct hominid subsistence patterns and paleoecological conditions. In this user-friendly, encyclopedic reference volume for students and professionals, R. Lee Lyman, a leading researcher in taphonomy, reviews the wide range of analytical techniques used to solve particular zooarchaeological problems, illustrating these in most cases with appropriate examples. He also covers the history of taphonomic research and its philosophical underpinnings. Logically organised and clearly written, the book is an important update on all previous publications on archaeological faunal remains.
- No other available volume is as extensive in coverage or as explicitly geared to being a text
- Detailed examples of how particular analytical techniques are applied and what the results signify
- Several new insights to the underpinning assumptions of various analytic techniques in common use today
Product details
July 1994Paperback
9780521458405
552 pages
246 × 189 × 28 mm
1kg
46 b/w illus.
Available
Table of Contents
- Preface
- 1. What is taphonomy?
- 2. The history and structure of taphonomy
- 3. Taphonomy in practice and theory
- 4. Structure and quantification of vertebrate skeletons
- 5. Vertebrate mortality, skeletonization, disarticulation, and scattering
- 6. Accumulation and dispersal of vertebrate remains
- 7. Frequencies of skeletal parts
- 8. Butchering, bone fracturing and bone tools
- 9. Other biostratinomic factors
- 10. Burial as a taphonomic process
- 11. Diagenesis
- 12. Taphonomy of fish, birds, reptiles and amphibians
- 13. Discussion and conclusions
- Glossary.
