Diagenesis in Prehistoric Caves: the Use of Minerals that Form In Situ to Assess the Completeness of the Archaeological Record

Karkanas, Panagiotis; Bar‐Yosef, Ofer; Goldberg, Paul; Weiner, Steve

doi:10.1006/jasc.1999.0506

Cited by 313 publications

(218 citation statements)

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“…Altered rock lacks organics and bioapatite but has siderite-which may further oxidize to iron oxide minerals (like hematite). This pattern is essentially identical to that present in sediments found in caves in Greece, France, and Israel, where researchers are using geochemistry to distinguish between those rocks from which bioapatite fossils have been dissolved during diagenesis and those in which bioapatite fossils were never deposited in the first place (Weiner et al, 1993Karkanas et al, 1999Karkanas et al, , 2000Karkanas et al, , 2002Berna et al, 2004). The basic pattern in cave deposits shows that the presence of calcite is indicative of unaltered or only slightly altered rocks.…”

Section: Roll-front Recognition and Chemistry Of Fossil Destructionsupporting

confidence: 63%

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Fossils to Fertilizer: Taphonomic Implications of Uranium Roll Fronts

Higgins¹

2007

PALAIOS

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Wyoming is famous for its deep structural basins containing both abundant vertebrate fossils and uranium-ore deposits in the form of roll fronts. Research conducted in The Breaks, an area of badlands in the northeastern corner of the Hanna Basin, south-central Wyoming, shows that these two disparate phenomena have an important relationship. Vertebrate bones and teeth, composed of bioapatite, are chemically stable under most diagenetic conditions. The chemical changes that occur at the leading edge of a propagating roll front, however, are capable of eliminating these fossils. This happens as pyrite is oxidized, which releases sulfuric acid to the ground water. Sulfuric acid reacts vigorously with apatite, releasing soluble phosphate. Phosphate liberated from the dissolved bones and teeth provides a valuable, often limiting, nutrient to plants or lichens once the roll front is exposed on the ground surface. In The Breaks, bedrock permeability is the most important factor controlling the distribution of roll fronts and, therefore, also of vertebrate fossils. Thus, patterns of roll-front distribution, observed from differing lithologic characteristics or floral assemblages growing on the rock, might provide a useful prospecting tool for paleontologists.

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Section: Roll-front Recognition and Chemistry Of Fossil Destructionsupporting

confidence: 63%

“…Under such conditions, Fe 2ϩ is mobile and recombines with carbonate from dissolved calcite to form characteristic sideritic concretions. Once all the organic material or pyrite has been oxidized, the siderite may oxidize to hematite (see Karkanas et al, 2000).…”

Section: Fossils To Fertilizermentioning

confidence: 99%

Fossils to Fertilizer: Taphonomic Implications of Uranium Roll Fronts

Higgins¹

2007

PALAIOS

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“…These sedimentary records are of most value when accompanied by robust dating frameworks based on the application of more than one method beyond the range of AMS radiocarbon dating (see Schwarcz and Rink, this issue). At the same time, it is important to appreciate that the sedimentary data are indispensable to evaluate and constrain the chronometric dates (e.g., Karkanas et al, 2000).…”

Section: Discussion: Site Sensitivity Temporal Resolution and Off-simentioning

confidence: 99%

The sedimentary records in Mediterranean rockshelters and caves: Archives of environmental change

Woodward¹,

Goldberg²

2001

Geoarchaeology

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“…Cuando los huesos quedan enterrados bajo tierra, su composición química está sujeta a cambios, unos rápidos y otros más lentos, que hacen que se destruyan o que fosilicen (Parker & Toots, 1980;Bocherens et al, 1997;Karkanas et al, 2000;Metzger et al, 2004;Carpenter, 2005 …”

Section: Introductionunclassified

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RESUMENSe ha determinado el índice de cristalinidad (IC) mediante difracción de rayos X de muestras actuales y fósiles pertenecientes a esmalte, dentina y hueso de metápodo de équidos, jiráfidos, rinocerótidos y proboscídeos de diferentes yacimientos neógenos españoles. Con estos valores de la cristalinidad del apatito se estima semicuantitativamente la evolución de los cambios diagenéticos ocurridos en el material óseo fósil.

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Relationship of the cristallinity index (CI) with the age and content of F and CO<sub>3</sub> ions in vertebrate fossil samples

Merino¹,

Morales²

2008

Estud. geol.

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IntroducciónCuando los huesos quedan enterrados bajo tierra, su composición química está sujeta a cambios, unos rápidos y otros más lentos, que hacen que se destruyan o que fosilicen (Parker & Toots, 1980;Bocherens et al., 1997;Karkanas et al., 2000;Metzger et al., 2004;Carpenter, 2005 RESUMENSe ha determinado el índice de cristalinidad (IC) mediante difracción de rayos X de muestras actuales y fósiles pertenecientes a esmalte, dentina y hueso de metápodo de équidos, jiráfidos, rinocerótidos y proboscídeos de diferentes yacimientos neógenos españoles. Con estos valores de la cristalinidad del apatito se estima semicuantitativamente la evolución de los cambios diagenéticos ocurridos en el material óseo fósil. Se ha observado que el esmalte presenta un IC mayor que la dentina y hueso de metápo-do, debido a su estructura más compacta. Sin embargo, no hay una correlación clara entre el incremento de la cristalinidad y la edad de las muestras. Además, el contenido de flúor aumenta durante los procesos de fosilización y como consecuencia aumenta el IC en las muestras fósiles. Por otro lado, el enriquecimiento diagenético de carbonato no está relacionado con la edad de los yacimientos, pero al aumentar su contenido en el esmalte, dentina y hueso de metápodo, disminuye en ellos su IC. Los sedimentos adyacentes juegan un papel clave en los cambios de cristalinidad de los huesos fósiles, como es el caso de los yacimientos con arenas, donde las muestras tienen un IC alto, por el contrario los yacimientos de margas y arcillas tienen un IC más bajo.Palabras clave: Índice de cristalinidad, procesos diagenéticos, intercambio iónico, yacimientos neógenos. ABSTRACTThe crystalline fraction of enamel, dentin and metapodial bone of modern and fossil mammals were studied by X-ray diffraction analysis. The powdered samples were collected from several equids, giraffids, rhinocerotids and proboscideans of Spanish Neogene deposits. Changes in the crystallinity index (CI) of apatite are particularly useful to estimate later diagenetic changes in the fossil material. The enamel displays larger CI than dentine and metapodial bone since they have a more dense structure; furthermore there is not a clear relationship between the CI enlargement and the geological age of samples. In addition, the fluorine content increases during the fossilization process and accordingly the parameter CI increases in fossil samples. The carbonate enrichment is not linked to the age of the deposits; however this carbonate increase in enamel, dentine and metapodial bone reduces the CI parameter. The host sediments play an essential role in the crystallinity changes observed in fossil bones; e.g., in the silica sands case, samples display a high CI while in the claystone and chalks case, they display a lower crystallinity index.

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Diagenesis in Prehistoric Caves: the Use of Minerals that Form In Situ to Assess the Completeness of the Archaeological Record

Cited by 313 publications

References 31 publications

Fossils to Fertilizer: Taphonomic Implications of Uranium Roll Fronts

Fossils to Fertilizer: Taphonomic Implications of Uranium Roll Fronts

The sedimentary records in Mediterranean rockshelters and caves: Archives of environmental change

Relationship of the cristallinity index (CI) with the age and content of F and CO<sub>3</sub> ions in vertebrate fossil samples

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