Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology

2014 Edition
| Editors: Claire Smith

Bones: Preservation and Conservation

Reference work entry
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0465-2_482
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Introduction

This entry discusses the conservation of a common archaeological remain: bones, or more specifically bony elements. Our main purpose is to consider bony elements, common to all vertebrate, human and animal, from archaeological contexts and their final destinations in museums and laboratories.

Definition

“What Is Bone?”

Bone is made of two main elements: organic (collagen-protein) and mineral (hydroxyapatite Ca10(PO4)6(OH)2). These elements have very different functions and properties that in combination allow bone to be at the same time hard and flexible, and as such it is an excellent raw material for several archaeological artifacts (White & Folkens 2000), such as Amazonian flutes, Paleolithic and Neolithic needles, and Paleolithic sculptures.

In a body, bones serve to protect and support soft tissues, to produce blood cells, as a storage facility for fat and a reservoir of calcium. Bony elements vary in size and shape according to the species and the individuals, but...

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References

  1. Behrensmeyer, A. K. 1978. Taphonomic and ecologic information from bone weathering. Paleobiology 4: 150-62.Google Scholar
  2. Cronyn, J. M. 2004. The elements of archaeological conservation. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
  3. Lyman, L. & G. Fox. 1997. A critical evaluation of bone weathering as an indication of bone assemblage formation, in W. Haglund & M. Sorg (ed.) Forensic taphonomy: the postmortem fate of human remains: 223-47. Boca Raton (FL): CRC Press.Google Scholar
  4. White, T. D. & P. A. Folkens. 2000. Human osteology, 2nd edn. San Diego (CA): Academic Press.Google Scholar

Further Reading

  1. Binford, L. R. 1981. Bones: ancient men and modern myths. New York. Academic Press.Google Scholar
  2. Duday, H. 2005. L’archéotanatologie ou l’archéologie de la mort, in O. Dutour, J.-J. Hublin & B. van der Meersch (ed.) Objets et méthodes en paleoanthropologie: 153-216. Paris: Comité des travaux historiques et scientifiques (CTHS).Google Scholar
  3. Rodgers, B. A. 2004. The archaeologist’s manual for conservation – a guide to non-toxic, minimal intervention artifact stabilization. New York: Kluwer Academic Publishers.Google Scholar

Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Universidade Federal do Oeste do ParáSantarémBrazil