Bone

Amy Scott <amy.scott [at] utoronto__ca> writes

>I am a student at the University of Wales, College of Cardiff
studying for a BSc in Archaeological Conservation. I am planning on
>doing a paper for my osteology class on how burial conditions can
>affect the preservation of bone in an archaeological context.

I am a student at the University of Wales, College of Cardiff
studying for a BSc in Archaeological Conservation.  Although several
good conservation references are available, they may be difficult
for a biology student to decipher. I am providing a list of
references in which I used for a recent paper on the same subject,
although do not rule out the obvious which is to relate the
composition of the bone (i.e. the inorganic/organic phases) to
factors in the burial environment which would influence its survival
or decay-such as pH, water, oxygen, microbial populations,
temperature, etc.  Any organic biology books on bone in general can
provide you with the bone composition and any soil books, relating
to archaeology, can help with the latter. Hope this information is
helpful and good luck with the project.

    References:

    Boddington, A., Garland, A.N. and R.C. Janaway (1987) Death,
        Decay and Reconstruction. Mancester University Press:
        England.

    Brothwell, Don R. (1972)  Digging Up Bones.  British Museum:
        London.

    Chamberlain, Andrew (1994)  Interpreting the Past--Human
        Remains. British Museum Press:  London.

    Chaplin, Raymond E. (1971)  The Study of Animal Bones from
        Archaeological Sites.  Seminar Press:  London.

    Child, Angela (1993)  "Microbial Decomposition of Archaeological
        Bone" in Conservation Science in the UK ed by Norman
        Tennent: pp.  91-95.

    Child, A M (1995)  "Microbial Taphonomy of Archaeological Bone"
        in Studies in Conservation Vol. 40, Number 1 (Feb):  pp
        19-30.

    Cornwall, I.W. (1974)  Bones for the Archaeologist.  Dent and
        Sons, Ltd:  London.

    Cronyn, J.M. (1990)  The Elements of Archaeological
        Conservation.  TJ Press Ltd., Padstow, Cornwall.

    Dowman, Elizabeth (1970) Conservation in Field Archaeology.
        Methuen and Co Ltd., Norfolk.

    Johansson, Lars-Uno (1986)  "Bone and Related Materials" in
        In-Situ Archaeological Conservation, April 6-13, 1986.
        Published by the Getty Conservation Institute:  pp.
        132-137.

    Koob, Stephen (1992)  "Recovery and treatment of Skeletal
        Remains at Herculaneum" in Retrieval of Objects from
        Archaeological Sites ed by Payton.  Archetype Publications,
        Ltd:  Clwyd, Wales: 157-166.

    MacGregor, Arthur (1985)  Bone, Antler and Ivory--The Technology
        of Skeletal Materials since the Roman Period.  Barnes and
        Noble books, New Jersey.

    Rackham, James (1994)  Interpreting the Past--Animal Bones.
        British Museum Press, London.

    Sease, Catherine (1994)  A Conservation Manual for the Field
        Archaeologist.  Archaeological Research Tools No. 4,
        Institute of Archaeology, UCLA.

    Spriggs, James A. and Than Van Byeren (1984).  " A Practical
        Approach to the Excavation and Recording of Ancient Maya
        Burials" in the Conservator, No. 8, pp. 41-46.

    White, E.M. and L.A. Hannus (1983) "Chemical Weathering of Bone
        on Archaeological Sites" in American Antiquity Vol 48, No 2:
        318-322.

If there are any further questions, or you would like to know where
to obtain copies of articles, etc. please don't hesitate to contact
me at the address below or on e-mail at:  sha4lay [at] cardiff__ac__uk

Lisa Young
University of Wales, Cardiff
Archaeological Conservation Dept
School of History and Archaeology
PO Box 909
Park Place
Cardiff CF1 3XU
Wales

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 9:58
                 Distributed: Sunday, February 4, 1996
                        Message Id: cdl-9-58-007
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