Mineral Assemblages in Theopetra, Greece: A Framework for Understanding Diagenesis in a Prehistoric Cave

Karkanas, Panagiotis; Kyparissi‐Apostolika, Nina; Bar‐Yosef, Ofer; Weiner, Steve

doi:10.1006/jasc.1998.0354

Cited by 102 publications

(55 citation statements)

References 12 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…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%

“…If calcite were missing, yet authigenic dahllite were present, bones would still be present, as dahllite and bioapatite are essentially the same mineral. Any sediment that lacks both calcite and dahllite would not preserve bones but would potentially possess other phosphate minerals more insoluble than dahllite (Weiner et al, 1993;Karkanas et al, 1999).…”

Section: Roll-front Recognition and Chemistry Of Fossil Destructionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Fossils to Fertilizer: Taphonomic Implications of Uranium Roll Fronts

Higgins¹

2007

PALAIOS

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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.

show abstract

Section: Roll-front Recognition and Chemistry Of Fossil Destructionsupporting

confidence: 63%

Section: Roll-front Recognition and Chemistry Of Fossil Destructionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fossils to Fertilizer: Taphonomic Implications of Uranium Roll Fronts

Higgins¹

2007

PALAIOS

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…For example, an understanding of fine sediment provenance and sediment delivery mechanisms is crucial for the interpretation of the magnetic susceptibility signal (Ellwood et al, 1997;Ellwood et al, this issue). At the same time, data from micromorphological analyses can help to decouple the natural (geogenic) and anthropogenic signals in the sedimentary record and can unravel these from the sequence of natural post-depositional alterations that have affected the primary sedimentary record (Karkanas et al, 1999;Courty and Vallverdu, 2001). All of these data may be important for the design of the most appropriate dating strategy (such as ESR dating of teeth or OSL dating of eolian sediments) for a rockshelter site (see Schwarcz and Rink, this issue).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Woodward¹,

Goldberg²

2001

Geoarchaeology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…In addition, in areas where the bedrock floor was covered by Layer 8 sediments, localized stains of reddened (Munsell 2.5YR5/6) bedrock can also be seen. These rubefied areas were ascribed by Bordes to fire reddening; research in progress indicates, however, that they are rich in kaolinite and hematite (Devault 2007) and resulted from diagenesis; similar reddening demonstrably unrelated to burning has been documented from nearby Grotte XVI in Dordogne, and Theopetra Cave, Greece (Karkanas et al 1999;2002). …”

Section: Sedimentary Context Of Layermentioning

confidence: 92%

Untitled

Dibble

Berna²,

Goldberg³

et al. 2009

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Pech de l'Azé IV (Dordogne, France) is a collapsed cave with an approximately three meter sequence of wellpreserved Mousterian assemblages. At the base of the sequence, resting on bedrock, is a ~50cm thick layer (Layer 8) of dark, primarily anthropogenic sediments that show unambiguous evidence of Neandertal use of fire dating to the time of OIS 5c. The faunal assemblage, which suggests a temperate, wooded environment, has evidence for the exploitation of some small game, and provides possible evidence for some non-subsistence related activities. The stone tool assemblage is characterized by the use of Levallois technology and, among the retouched tools, scrapers are predominant. Raw materials were primarily local and the complete reduction sequence is present in the assemblage with no evidence for import or export of prepared elements. Because of the state of preservation of all aspects of this layer, it represents one of the clearest examples of human management of fire in the European Middle Paleolithic.PaleoAnthropology 2009: 182−219.

show abstract

Mineral Assemblages in Theopetra, Greece: A Framework for Understanding Diagenesis in a Prehistoric Cave

Cited by 102 publications

References 12 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

Untitled

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About