Bone Weathering of Juvenile-Sized Remains in the North Carolina Piedmont

Abstract

In decomposition studies, soft tissue decay and the effects of the environment on its processes and timing have been the primary focus. Decompositional changes to skeletal material, often called bone weathering, have been observed in far fewer research studies, most notably Behrensmeyer’s (Paleobiology 4:150–162, 1978) foundational project that first described the process and time frame for hard tissue decay. While other studies have followed, all have noted that the rate and the process of decay are dependent on the local environmental factors affecting the skeletal material, an issue that is also well known in soft tissue decomposition research. While much of the bone weathering studies are long-term and often use adult elements, this study adds to the literature by focusing on short-term changes occurring within a year to juvenile domestic pigs in the central Piedmont region of North Carolina. In this study, juvenile domestic pigs, Sus scrofa (n = 7), were used as proxies for human children because of their similarity in size and immaturity of the skeletal elements. Observations took place over an 8-month period; two fleshed pigs (n = 2) were placed at the beginning of the observational period, while the other five (n = 5) had been in the research field for at least 3 months prior to the beginning of the project. The study found that, while all skeletal elements remained largely intact, specific elements were more affected by different types of weathering. Long, tubular bones, including long bones, metacarpals, metatarsals, and phalanges, were more prone to flaking of the outer layers of cortical bone, while long bones, vertebrae, and ribs were more likely to have loss of bone at the articular facets, leading to exposure of interior trabecular bone. The location of the project, largely underutilized in forensic research, shares similar environmental factors with other large areas of the American South. Consequently, the results could be applied to the broader southeastern United States.