Jeffrey H. Schwartz - Bone Quotes

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The upper and lower ends of a humerus are like the brim and base of an urn. The shaft of the bone is like the belly of the urn. Fragments, even minute ones, of the detailed parts of a bone are like the indicator sherds of a broken urn. Fragments, even large ones, of the shaft of a bone are like the body sherds of a broken urn. Analyzing bones, after all, is very much like analyzing pottery.

Jeffrey H. Schwartz
The smaller the mammal, the more it is confined to smaller geographic areas. A small mammal is also more susceptible to subtle changes in climate and environment.... On average, the absence or presence of smaller species provides more precise clues to past conditions in an area than does the information gained from study of the bone assemblages of the larger animals.

Jeffrey H. Schwartz
The processes of bone preservation are such that the farther back in time we go, the less there is.

Jeffrey H. Schwartz
The corpses of water-dwelling animals often sink to the bottom and become covered with sediment. The sediment tends to protect the dead body and even at times retain an impression of its shape and external anatomical details. This environment then provides the means by which the bones of the skeleton are mineralized.... most land animals die and fall to the ground, without any chance of a freak flood casting them into an environment more favorable to fossilization.

Jeffrey H. Schwartz