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RESEARCH PRODUCT
Post-mortem enamel surface texture alteration during taphonomic processes—do experimental approaches reflect natural phenomena?
Katrin WeberDaniela E. WinklerEllen Schulz-kornasThomas M. KaiserThomas Tütkensubject
General NeuroscienceExperimental alterationRFluvial transportGeneral MedicineGeneral Biochemistry Genetics and Molecular BiologyDietDental microwearVertebrate enamel560 Paläontologie560 Paleontologystomatognathic systemMedicinePost-mortem wearGeneral Agricultural and Biological Sciencesdescription
Experimental approaches are often used to better understand the mechanisms behindand consequences of post-mortem alteration on proxies for diet reconstruction.Dental microwear texture analysis (DMTA) is such a dietary proxy, using dental wearfeatures in extant and extinct taxa to reconstruct feeding behaviour and mechanicalfood properties. In fossil specimens especially, DMTA can be biased by post-mortemalteration caused by mechanical or chemical alteration of the enamel surface. Herewe performed three different dental surface alteration experiments to assess the effectof common taphonomic processes by simplifying them: (1) tumbling in sedimentsuspension to simulate fluvial transport, (2) sandblasting to simulate mechanicalerosion due to aeolian sediment transport, (3) acid etching to simulate chemicaldissolution by stomach acid. For tumbling (1) we found alteration to be mainlydependent on sediment grain size fraction and that on specimens tumbled with sandfractions mainly post-mortem scratches formed on the dental surface, while specimenstumbled with a fine-gravel fraction showed post-mortem formed dales. Sandblasting(2) with loess caused only negligible alteration, however blasting with fine sand quartzparticles resulted in significant destruction of enamel surfaces and formation of largepost-mortem dales. Acid etching (3) using diluted hydrochloric acid solutions inconcentrations similar to that of predator stomachs led to a complete etching of thewhole dental surface, which did not resemble those of teeth recovered from owl pellets.The experiments resulted in post-mortem alteration comparable, but not identical tonaturally occurring post-mortem alteration features. Nevertheless, this study servesas a first assessment and step towards further, more refined taphonomic experimentsevaluating post-mortem alteration of dental microwear texture (DMT).
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022-01-14 |