Archaeological Research Facility

In a recent paper (Cook, 1951) the fossilization of bone was consideredfrom the standpoint of the behavior of the principal components: calcium,phosphate, and carbonate. These substances may increase or decrease with theduration of fossilization and in detail are subject to wide fluctuation,depending on the chemical nature of the soil matrix in which the bones are imbedded.Leaching, accumulation, and ion exchange may raise or lower the levelof any of the inorganic constituents in such a way as to make the analyticalvalues in a single specimen of little use in estimating the age of the bone.The organic matter, on the other hand, appears to undergo a consistent secularreduction which is much less dependent upon the chemical and physical environment.The water content likewise decreases quite uniformly with age.The present paper reports the results of recent investigations of theorganic components and water in fossil bone. Application of the results todating is not attempted here in detail but will be dealt with in a separatepaper.