Diagenesis of Bone

Abstract

Diagenesis of bone comprises the post‐depositional alterations that occur to skeletal materials including bones, enamel, and dentin/ivory. Understanding the processes that can alter the chemistry of skeletons is a key aspect of reconstructing information about the organism during life and subsequent burial environment. Bone diagenesis includes the post‐depositional effects experienced in multiple microscopic environments: the skeletal materials themselves, the pore spaces and cavities within those materials, and the sediments in the burial environment. Diagenetic processes include chemical alterations of organic and inorganic phases of bone, as well as microbial actions. The interplay between skeletal materials and a variety of intrinsic and extrinsic factors that affect different aspects of the skeletal structures produces highly localized diagenetic histories. Increasing use of microanalytical tools has proven useful in understanding different alterations of bone and tooth structure, post‐depositional processes including specific diagenetic changes, and the ability to recover useful information from partially degraded materials.