Hello Lanoë!
When I burried medium small and small animals such as birds, rodents,
hares and badger I actually put them in nylon stockings and it works
perfect. In that way all the small bones will be found.
Best regards,
Ylva Telldahl
On Fri, 17 Feb 2012 01:14:15 +0000, Nerissa Russell <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
> Or, proactively, wrap it in fine plastic mesh (at least the feet) before
> burial to keep the little bones together. I tend to wrap each foot so I
> can easily keep them together and sided. Wire or twist ties work well
to
> hold the mesh on. The kind that is used as window screening in some
parts
> of the world works well.
>
> Nerissa Russell
> Associate Professor and Chair
> Department of Anthropology
> Cornell University
> Ithaca, NY 14853
> (607) 255-6790
>
> On Feb 16, 2012, at 7:43 PM, "[log in to unmask]"
> <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> ....but Francois, I would also add, if you bury small animals (or even
>> large animals) in dirt, you will be very fortunate to recover all of
the
>> bones. Apart from the excellent chance that dogs or coyotes may have
>> gotten to it, in my experience it is very difficult to find all of the
>> smaller skeletal elements, i.e. carpals, tarsals, tail bones, and so
>> forth.
>>
>> Therefore, when you go to dig it up, you'll be wise to have a kitchen
>> sieve on hand, or else a piece of window screen that's at least a foot
>> square. Dig with a garden trowel or even a tablespoon, and put every
bit
>> of dirt through the screen. Have a hose nearby running at low volume.
Put
>> the dirt in the screen, and put that over a bucket. Run the water over
>> the
>> dirt in the screen, gently pressing with your fingers, until all the
dirt
>> has passed through the screen, hopefully leaving bones behind.
>>
>> Do not get discouraged if this takes quite a while, many little loads
of
>> dirt. Cheers -- Dr. Deb
>>
>>
>>
>>> Hello all,
>>>
>>> I burried a decaying otter (Lontra canadensis) in order to get the
bones
>>> without having to deal with the nauseous smell.
>>>
>>> Does anyone know how much time you would typically wait before organic
>>> soft tissues disappear ? One year, 2 years, ... ten years ?
>>>
>>> context: temperate environment (Iowa), clay to clayey sand, humid
>>> (flood
>>> plain, ponds closeby), abundant vegetation (birches roots, tall
>>> grasses).
>>>
>>> Thanks for your help,
>>>
>>> François
>>>
>>> François Lanoë
>>> Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle
>>> [log in to unmask]
>>>
>>>
>>>
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