Undergraduate paleontology elective

Students should be proficient with basic brunton skills and be able to plot data on rose diagrams.

This exercise is conducted early in the semester and coincides with lectures covering taphonomy.

1. To observe and document early postmortem processes operating on a deer carcass;

2. To compare the effects of scavenging on two carcasses, one placed in an open grassy field, the other placed in the same field but enclosed in wire mesh cage constructed to exclude macro-scavengers; and,

3. To consider the taphnomic biases imparted by scavengers on terrestrial vertebrate animal remains specifically, and on the fossil record in general.

In this lab exercise, students investigate taphonomic processes operating on a large vertebrate carcass (whitetail deer: Odocoileus virginianus) in a temperate, humid, terrestrial environment (i.e., central Ohio). Prior to the lab, students read the 1991 review article on terrestrial vertebrate accumulations by A. K. Behrensmeyer. Once in the field, they familiarize themselves with the locality and note the state of the carcass and the position of any disarticulated portions of the beast. Using the stake flags they mark the location of all the elements of the carcass. Next, using the Brunton compasses and the measuring tape, create a map of the site. They then reassemble all the elements of the carcass on the tarp and identify all of the skeletal elements. Finally, the students compare the disarticulated skeleton with a control carcass placed in a wire mesh cage designed to exclude any macro-scavengers. In the lab, student synthesize their results and respond to a series of questions related to vertebrate taphonomy and the quality of the fossil record.

Student evaluations are based on lab write-ups completed after the field data is collected and subsequently analyzed.