CRIM 356 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Diagenesis, Taphonomy, Saponification
24 Nov 2020
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Document Summary
Some tissues desiccated, some parts of body skeletonized. 2 areas of study which address this are: Transference of biological material from living population to incorporation into sedimentary deposit. Based on geological theory of uniformitarianism - processes that geological deposits in the past will produce same deposits in future. Diagenesis - process of change which occurs after death before & after deposition. May include dissolution, precipitation, remineralization & recrystallization. Excludes effects of extreme temp & pressure. Diagenesis in forensics & archaeology refers to post mortem alterations to tissue integrity & microstructure. Early trace element studies rendered invalid due to no awareness of diagenetic change. Survival of dna & collagen in human material. Dna has been recovered from neanderthal bone. Bony morph structures survive for millions of years. Bone mineral density 1. 6 to 2. 4 gms^3 normal. Bone fossils exceed normal density, i. e. - become more highly mineralized & more dense.
