Paleosols (fossil soils) are preserved throughout the geologic record in depositional settings
ranging from alluvial systems to between basalt flows. Until recently, paleosols were studied …

The biomineral component of bones and teeth is synthesized within the body, under direct
physiological control, and therefore the chemistry of bone (including the trace element …

Taphonomy plays diverse roles in paleobiology. These include assessing sample quality
relevant to ecologic, biogeographic, and evolutionary questions, diagnosing the roles of …

The application of chemistry within archaeology is an important and fascinating area. It
allows the archaeologist to answer such questions as" what is this artefact made of?"," …

List of figures p. ix List of tables p. xii Preface p. xiii Part I The Role of Analytical Chemistry in
Archaeology p. 1 1 Archaeology and Analytical Chemistry p. 3 1.1 The history of analytical …

The preservation of bone or bioapatite over geologic time has presented paleobiologists
with long-standing and formidable questions. Namely, to elucidate the mechanisms …

Cooking is perhaps the most common pre–burial taphonomic transformation that occurs to
bone, yet it is still one of the least understood. Little progress has been made in determining …

Recent years have seen rapid advances in the understanding of diagenetic changes to
bone tissues and how these influence the chemistry, microstructure and histological …

Fossil bone microanalyses reveal the ontogenetic histories of extinct tetrapods, but
incomplete fossil records often result in small sample sets lacking statistical strength. In …

The process of fossilization is still in many respects poorly understood. Changing chemical
conditions in the fossilizing bone allows us to distinguish successive stages of bone …