5 - VERTEBRATE MORTALITY, SKELETONIZATION, DISARTICULATION, AND SCATTERING

Summary

Klähn has made a sharp distinction between the two main groups of causes of death; dying and being killed. By dying he means normal death due to old age or sickness. By being killed he refers to vigorous individuals that become victims of accident, enemies, or the forces of nature.

(J. Weigelt 1927/1989:21)

Introduction

Taphonomy is concerned with the differences between what the paleontologist or zooarchaeologist lays out in the laboratory for study, and, variously, the biotic community and/or individual animals represented by that laid-out material. In a way, taphonomic histories begin with the death of an organism. This is not exactly true, although it is precise given most definitions of taphonomy (see Chapters 1—3). It is not exactly true because the behavioral patterns, ecological predilections, and life history of an organism may influence the mode of mortality and the taphonomy of that organism's carcass. As a simple example, terrestrial vertebrates have different taphonomic histories than aquatic vertebrates simply due to the different medium in which they normally die. Knowing something about the behaviors, ecology, and lives of the organisms whose remains are being studied can thus be a great benefit to the taphonomist.

In this chapter we explore the various ways animals die and are killed, how those modes of death might influence subsequent episodes in the taphonomic history of a carcass, and some analytic techniques used to determine prehistoric modes of death. We also explore how mortality influences age and sex demographic parameters indicated by fossils.