Editing Taphonomy (section)

==Description==
[[File:Skeleton in cave.jpg|thumb|An articulated [[wombat]] skeleton in Imperial-Diamond cave ([[Jenolan Caves]])]][[File:LaBreaTarPitsExcavation2008.jpg|thumb|The [[La Brea Tar Pits]] represent an unusual depositional environment for their epoch ([[Pleistocene]]) and location ([[southern California]]).]]
Taphonomic phenomena are grouped into two phases: [[biostratinomy]], events that occur between death of the organism and the burial; and [[diagenesis]], events that occur after the burial.<ref name="Lyman 1–162"/> Since Efremov's definition, taphonomy has expanded to include the fossilization of organic and inorganic materials through both cultural and environmental influences. Taphonomy is now most widely defined as the study of what happens to objects after they leave the biosphere (living contexts), enter the lithosphere (buried contexts), and are subsequently recovered and studied.<ref name=":1">{{Citation |last=Stahl |first=Peter W. |title=Vertebrate Taphonomy in Archaeological Research |date=2014 |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-1-4419-0465-2_2134 |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology |pages=7617–7623 |editor-last=Smith |editor-first=Claire |access-date=2023-05-12 |place=New York, NY |publisher=Springer New York |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-1-4419-0465-2_2134 |isbn=978-1-4419-0426-3|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

This is a multidisciplinary concept and is used in slightly different contexts throughout different fields of study. Fields that employ the concept of taphonomy include: 
* [[Archaeobotany]]
* [[Archaeology]]
* [[Biology]]
* [[Forensic science]]
* [[Geoarchaeology]]
* [[Geology]]
* [[Paleoecology]]
* [[Paleontology]]
* [[Zooarchaeology]]

There are five main stages of taphonomy: disarticulation, dispersal, accumulation, fossilization, and mechanical alteration.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://personal.colby.edu/~ragastal/Taphonomy.htm|title=TAPHONOMY|website=personal.colby.edu|access-date=2017-05-03}}</ref> The first stage, disarticulation, occurs as the organism decays and the bones are no longer held together by the flesh and tendons of the organism. Dispersal is the separation of pieces of an organism caused by natural events (i.e. floods, scavengers etc.). Accumulation occurs when there is a buildup of organic and/or inorganic materials in one location (scavengers or human behavior). When mineral rich groundwater permeates organic materials and fills the empty spaces, a fossil is formed. The final stage of taphonomy is mechanical alteration; these are the processes that physically alter the remains (i.e. freeze-thaw, compaction, transport, burial).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://paleo.cortland.edu/tutorial/Taphonomy&Pres/taphonomy.htm|title=Taphonomy & Preservation|website=paleo.cortland.edu|access-date=2017-05-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170517105026/http://paleo.cortland.edu/tutorial/Taphonomy%26Pres/taphonomy.htm|archive-date=2017-05-17|url-status=dead}}</ref> These stages are not only successive, they interplay. For example, chemical changes occur at every stage of the process, because of bacteria. Changes begin as soon as the death of the organism: enzymes are released that destroy the organic contents of the tissues, and mineralised tissues such as bone, [[tooth enamel|enamel]] and [[dentin]] are a mixture of organic and mineral components. Moreover, most often the organisms (vegetal or animal) are dead because they have been killed by a predator. The digestion modifies the composition of the flesh, but also that of the bones.<ref>{{Cite book|title=TaphonomieS|last=Brugal J.P. Coordinateur|publisher=Archives contemporaines|others=GDR 3591, CNRS INEE|isbn=978-2813002419|location=Paris|oclc=1012395802|date = 2017-07-01}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=in: Manuel de taphonomie|last=Dauphin Y.|publisher=Errance|others=Denys C., Patou-Mathis M. coordinatrices|year=2014|isbn=9782877725774|location=Arles|oclc=892625160}}</ref>