Bone Density and Bone Attrition

The varied density (mass-to-volume ratio) of skeletal parts has long been recognized as a taphonomically significant intrinsic property of bones. Mixtures of true density (mass-to-volume excluding pore space), bulk density (mass-to-volume including pore space), and specific gravity (temperature-dependent mass-to-volume ratio) have all been measured. Today, computed tomography accounts for most measurement accuracy concerns. Photon densitometry previously overcame some measurement difficulties and though this technique fails to account for medullary cavities and irregular shapes of skeletal parts, measurement results are fairly robust. This technique has produced the only detailed measurements of human bone density. Those measurements are significantly correlated with a fourteenth-century collection of remains of ∼500 individual Native Americans, indicating the collection has undergone density-mediated attrition, likely from bone-gnawing by carnivores indicated by tooth marks on bone specimens. Only density values for human long bones are currently available; the densities of other skeletal parts need to be measured. Bone porosity, shape, and size are other intrinsic properties that mediate taphonomic processes and require future study

Attrition · Dentistry · Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies · Medicine · Paleopathology and ancient diseases · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology

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