Sarah, some of the stuff I get from the Vindolanda diggings has reduced
cortical thickness as well as diminished (demineralized) density. At this
site, such bone is always found in the 'aerobic layers', generally within
one foot of the ground surface. These specimens tend to be rather delicate
-- they break, abrade, and crumble quite easily -- and sometimes do not
survive the trip very well from the actual dig site to the lab.
Nevertheless I have endeavored to preserve some of them, particularly of
course when they are more or less complete.
They lie at the opposite end of the spectrum from Vindolanda material that
comes from the well-sealed 'anaerobic' layers, which tends to be dark
chocolate brown in color and is partly permineralized.
The other thing that occurred to me that you might like to hear about is
the following book:
Nancollas, G.H., ed. 1982. Biological Mineralization and Demineralization.
Report of the Dahlem Workshop on Biological Mineralization and
Demineralization, Oct. 18-23, 1981. Life Sciences Research Report no. 23,
Springer-Verlag, New York, 415 pp.
There are also some references to biomineralization, especially as
involved in taphonomic and fossilization chemistry, in an old old paper in
Paleo Cubed:
Martin, L.D. and D.K. Bennett. 1977. The burrows of the Miocene beaver
Palaeocastor, western Nebraska, U.S.A. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology,
Palaeoecology 22:173-193.
> Dear Zooarch members,
>
> Is anyone aware of any studies that have looked at the effect of
> weathering on the thickness of the bone cortex? I have noticed it
> occasionally on bones, where they are extremely white, dry, light and
> thin. I am interested in thickness rather than density, but anything
> might be helpful.
>
> Thank you very much!
>
> Sarah Croker
>
> PhD Student
> Shellshear Museum
> Department of Anatomy and Histology
> Building F13
> University of Sydney
> NSW 2006
> Ph: 02 9351 6545
> Em: [log in to unmask]
>
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