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Post-Depositional Processes Within Cave
Sites Affecting the Taphonomy of Human
Remains
Why Caves?
• Because caves are cool• Contain some of the earliest human remains• Earliest depictions created by man
Cave Morphology
• Limestone caves
Cave Morphology• Sea Caves/Littoral Caves
Cosquer Cave
Sandstone Caves
Unnatural “Caves”
Use of caves
• Shelter
• Occupation
• Funerary
• Storage
• Quarries
Preservation And Degredation
• Caves can create a microclimate perfect for preserving, mummifying and fossilizing archaeological material.
• Caves however can also act as natural water courses and if deep enough can be affected by the water table
• Throughout history caves have often been used and reused by people and animals, each leaving their own impact, and destroying others.
Taphonomy?
• “Taphonomy is a multidisciplinary field that aims to understand how paleontological or archaeological remains are formed, distributed and modified”
Cova des Pas Menorca
Taphonomy in Cava Des Pas
• Macroscopic Changes to human remains when any human bone is buried and can be taphonomically altered in three ways.
1. Cortical Surface- Changes in chemical and physical weathering producing cracks, scaling decomp…
2. Fractures- absent or apparent, shape, type and pattern
3. Disturbce- momement from decomposition
Post depositional process on taphony caused by other natural processes
Rock falls + importance on archaeological recordBioturbation SoilMineral content of cave positive and negativeWater tableFluvial processesAll of these aspects can change the way in which we interpret the archaeological record
Fluvial Processes
“When a fresh bone becomes buried in the earth, it undergoes chemical changes differing in nature and degree with the chemistry of the surrounding matrix “ I. W Cornwall 1956
fossilisation
• Petrification
• Replacement
• Perimineralisation
• Coprolites
Difficulties in sorting
Tooth or Poop?
Archaeology- Destructive science which takes it toll on the material which is excavated.