taphonomy

noun

ta·​phon·​o·​my tə-ˈfä-nə-mē 

ta-

: the study of the processes (such as burial, decay, and preservation) that affect animal and plant remains as they become fossilized

also : the processes themselves

taphonomic

ˌta-fə-ˈnä-mik 

adjective

taphonomist

tə-ˈfä-nə-mist 

ta-

noun

Examples of taphonomy in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

DeBruyn is an environmental microbiologist at the University of Tennessee studying how animal, including human, remains become part of the environment — a field sometimes referred to as taphonomy. —Joan Meiners, Discover Magazine, 6 Aug. 2020

Watch a Lizard Decay and a Gecko Catch a Fly The scientific practice of recreating the fossilization process is called taphonomy. —Rachael Lallensack, Smithsonian, 7 June 2019

The taphonomy of how skin and protofeathers preserve, or do not, is little known, and the positive presence of skin can’t automatically be taken as an indication protofeathers were absent. —Brian Switek, Scientific American Blog Network, 14 June 2017

Paleoanthropological and paleoecological implications of the taphonomy of a sabertooth’s den Journal of Human Evolution, 29 (6), 515-547 DOI: 10.1006/jhev.1995.1074 MILFORD H. WOLPOFF, JOHN HAWKS, BRIGITTE SENUT, MARTIN PICKFORD, JAMES AHERN (2006). —Brian Switek, WIRED, 20 Jan. 2011

Word History

Etymology

Greek taphē burial + English -nomy

First Known Use

1940, in the meaning defined above